Preparing Your Home to Sell

First Impressions Are Lasting Impressions. The exterior of your home often determines how buyers will view the interior, so:

Make sure your front entrance is clean and inviting.
Paint or replace your front door if it’s faded or worn.
Add some paint to shutters, trim and any other outside features showing signs of wear.
Spruce up the flower beds and add seasonal colored flowers close to the entry.

Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep. Buyers often see the surface condition of your home as a sign of what’s underneath, so:

Keep windows and floors clean.
Replace faded wallpaper and glue any areas that have come away from the wall.
Repair worn woodwork.
Repaint scarred or dirty walls in a neutral color.
Steam clean carpeting or replace it if necessary.
Repair loose knobs, sticking doors and windows, warped cabinet drawers, broken light switches and other minor flaws.
Check and repair caulking in bathtubs and showers.

Accentuate the Positive. Try to see your home with a fresh perspective and arrange each room to bring out its best attributes: “How we live in a home and how it needs to look to sell are often two different things”.

Open draperies and curtains to let the light in during the showing
Remove all unnecessary clutter from your rooms, countertops, shelving, closets and attic.
Arrange all your rooms neatly and remove excess furniture (consider a storage unit if necessary)
Keep fresh, clean towels in the bathroom
Limit the use of candles or air fresheners as they can overpower a room.

Put Your Home in the Best Possible Light. Strategically lighting your home, even during daytime showings, can create a cozy mood and highlight positive attributes of each room, so:

Avoid the use of overhead lighting that makes rooms look washed out and lifeless.
Be creative and arrange lamps to help smaller rooms seem larger, and large rooms seem more intimate.
Use lighting to highlight the “living areas” of your home, such as a pair of chairs near a fireplace or a table in a breakfast area.

Inside:

Clear all unnecessary objects from furniture throughout the house. Keep decorative objects on the furniture restricted to groups of 1, 3, or 5 items.
Clear all unnecessary objects from the kitchen countertops. If it hasn’t been used for three months…put it away! Clear refrigerator fronts of messages, pictures, etc. (A sparse kitchen helps the buyer mentally move their own things into your kitchen.)
In the bathroom, remove any unnecessary items from countertops, tubs, shower stalls and commode tops. Keep only your most needed cosmetics, brushes, perfumes, etc. in one small group on the counter. Coordinate towels to one or two colors only.
Rearrange or remove some of the furniture if necessary. As owners, many times we have too much furniture in a room. This is wonderful for our personal enjoyment, but when it comes to selling, we need to thin out as much as possible to make rooms appear larger.
Take down or rearrange certain pictures or object on walls. Patch and paint if necessary.
Leave on certain lights during the day. (I’ll show you which ones). During “showings” turn on all lights and lamps if possible.
Pleasant low playing music can be helpful.

Outside:

Trim landscaping and trees to reveal architectural detail (bottom of windows, etc.). “If they can’t see it, we can’t sell it.”
Go around the perimeter of the house and move all garbage cans, extra building materials, etc., into the garage.
Clean out gutters if necessary.
Weed and then add bark mulch to all planting areas. Keep lawn freshly cut and fertilized. Remove any dead plants or shrubs.
Clear patios or decks of all small items, such as small planters, flower pots, charcoal, barbecues, toys, etc. (Put them in the garage).
Check paint condition of the house-especially the front door and trim. “Curb appeal really works!”

In General:
Try to look at your house “through the buyer’s eyes” as though you’ve never seen it or been there before. Any time or money spent on these items will bring you back more money in return, and hopefully a faster sale.