How to Prepare Your Home for a Quick Sale

Let’s face it, nobody likes to sell things and selling your house is SALE! You are trying to make your home stand out for EVERY prospective buyer who walks through your door. If you organize your home correctly, prospective buyers will be able to imagine themselves living in the home. Proper staging can decrease the number of days a home stays on the market and increase its selling price. Accredited personnel can be hired to visit your home and make the necessary changes to increase the marketability of your homes.

Home professionals shift the focus of the home to the seller’s taste and target the most likely buyer. Sellers need to realize that those personal keepsakes, family items, that they don’t put away before showings can affect how quickly homes sell and the value of your home. That is why many REALTORS may ask you to hire staging professionals.

However, if you really want to sell and get the best value, here are some tips from the pros:

1) First impressions start abroad. The first thing a buyer will see when approaching your home will be your garage door, flower beds, shrubs, and of course your front door. Garages and storage sheds should be cleaned and all shrubs and trees trimmed. Flower beds should be weeded and the garden should be clutter-free. Any personal garden art (pink flamingos or gnomes, etc.) should be put away. Consider spending a few bucks on mulch and maybe a few flowers to enhance the environment. Keep the yard trimmed and trimmed and consider painting the garage and front doors.

2) Neutral color paint is preferred throughout. Fresh and clean walls are a must. Your choice of colors can greatly affect the marketability of your home. Remember, we are trying to make the buyer feel at home, so it is not about their tastes, but about allowing them to imagine their things at home. Tan, beige, sage are excellent options. If you need to liven up the place a bit, try new towels or colorful cushions or blankets. You can also add a lot of color with some fresh flowers and pretty vases.

3) Clear everywhere! If you don’t use it daily, pack it up. Get rid of the clutter you go through every day. If you have children, make sure their things are neat and organized. Clean all of your closets and cabinets so they look fresh, big, and spacious. Get rid of all those pictures, keepsakes, and personal items.

4) The entrance to your home should be warm and welcoming. Try some good smelling candles and maybe some flowers on a table in the hall. Remember that you will never get a second chance to make a first impression.

5) The kitchen is undoubtedly the most important space when selling your home. The kitchen HAS to be immaculate. Clean from top to bottom, including ceiling corners, ceiling fans, and the floor under cabinets. Take everything out of the fridge, including children’s artwork, sports schedules, magnets, etc. Keep countertops clean and clear everything on them. Clean all the cabinets, especially under the sink, and be sure to organize everything, including the pantry and cabinets. Try a fresh coat of paint on new, modern doors and handles or knobs to keep everything looking fresh and new.

6) Nobody wants to bathe in someone else’s dirt, so make sure your bathrooms are spotless. Clean them like never before. All tile and grout should be scrubbed and shower doors or curtains should be clean with no signs of mold or calcium build-up. Clean your counters and put away all your personal items. Try buying new towels, decorative soaps and containers, and possibly even a new shower curtain and rug for the bathroom. Remember that your bathrooms can make or break a sale, so make sure they look good.

7) Make sure furniture is clean, dusted, and arranged so that people can easily walk around the room. If this means moving a piece or two to storage, go for it. It is important that people do not feel cramped when viewing a house. Save all your CDs, videos, photos and personal memories. Emphasize anything special in a room, such as a fireplace mantel or built-in shelves, by placing a flower arrangement, a clock, or a piece of art on them. Never use personal photos of family or friends as display pieces.

8) Whenever you have a visitation or open house, be sure to clean the house from top to bottom, even the ceiling fans. Lighting is very important. You want enough light so that your house is not “like a cave”, but not so much that it looks like an operating room. Open curtains and blinds and try to let in as much natural light as possible. You can play soft music if you like and spray some air freshener or put some scent oil on your bulbs. Don’t go overboard with smelly stuff or people might think you’re trying to hide some bad smells. You can’t go wrong with fresh flowers and maybe even a candle or two in the bathrooms and kitchen.

9) A friend of mine, a real estate agent, suggests that you look around each room with fresh eyes. Try to imagine yourself as a buyer. Try to do everything on the list and prepare the house as if someone was coming to see it. Now do something you like to do and stop thinking about the house for a while. Spend a few hours outside and then come home like it’s the first time you’ve seen it. Enjoy everything from the view when you first drive, to the feel of home when you walk out the front door to get out. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll probably see some things that I didn’t cover here and that’s great. Fix as much as you can to make sure potential home buyers don’t find anything wrong with your home when they make the final decision.

My suggestion is that if you can afford a stager, it is well worth the money. If you can’t, it’s not the end of the world, you can still get the job done with a little common sense and a little effort.