The last thing you want is for your home to sit on the market for a year. Check out these easy steps to take when preparing your home for sale.
Selling your home fast and bringing in top dollar is the goal of any homeowner. But it takes more than wishful thinking to get the job done.
Preparing your home for sale takes a bit of work. But it’s an effort that will impress buyers and can send them running for their checkbook.
Luckily, it doesn’t have to take hard work to get your house ready. Check out these 8 easy steps to take when preparing your home for sale.
1. Make a Great First Impression
The last thing you want to do is turn buyers off before they walk through your front door. Curb appeal is everything when selling your house. So make sure you don’t spend all your time sprucing up the inside.
Clean up your landscaping, mowing and pulling weeds. Power wash the walkways and siding. And make your porch look welcoming with new house numbers and a fresh coat of paint on the front door.
Even a new welcome mat and potted plants are simple things you can do to draw buyers into your home with a smile.
2. Depersonalize Your Home
An important aspect of selling your house is to give buyers the chance to picture your space as their own. A great way to do that is depersonalizing your house before a showing.
Go ahead and take the kids art projects off your fridge. Put away family photos and heirlooms. You’ll have to do it eventually anyway, this will give you a head start.
Without your personal items in the space, potential buyers will be able to picture their own belongings there instead. And that can be an important emotional connection that just may sell your home.
3. Make Your House Sparkle
When prepping your house for sale, cleaning should go beyond the everyday routine. It needs to be a deep clean of your entire home. Because a sparkling house gives buyers a great impression and shows that your house has been taken care of.
This includes chores such as washing all windows both inside and out. Rechaulking crumbling seals in tubs, sinks, and showers. And scrubbing down all surfaces in the kitchen.
Since this may be a big undertaking, you can make it easier on yourself by hiring a cleaning service to do it for you.
But make sure you stay on top of it until your house sells. Vacuum every day and keep furniture dusted. Hang fresh towels in the bathrooms and keep the kids toys picked up.
And be sure to open up all curtains before a showing to let in as much natural light as possible. This not only showcases your cleaning efforts, natural light is a major must-have to home buyers.
4. Take Care of All Repairs
Buyers don’t want to walk into your home and see small projects they need to repair and tackle themselves. Growing to-do lists will make them wonder how badly the house has been taken care of and they’ll walk away.
Replace all cracked floor and wall tiles. Repair leaky faucets and that door that won’t close completely. Basically, anything that a buyer can look at as a negative of your home.
It’s a good idea to walk through your house as a buyer would and take note of everything you see needs fixed. From scuffed walls to loose door knobs, having them all repaired will go a long way in the resale of your home.
But if the repairs are too much, consider selling your home to cash buyers. You can read more here about how they will buy your home in as-is condition.
5. Clear out the Clutter
You want buyers to see the space in your home, not the stuff in your home. If your house is cluttered up with knickknacks and bulky furniture, it will be difficult for buyers to look past the stuff and see your home’s true potential.
Box up all the extra decor, items on your kitchen counters, and anything that you won’t need until you move. Then consider getting a storage unit to place all the bulky furniture and items in.
And don’t forget about the clutter on top of desks, in entryways, and laundry rooms. Clear it all out to make your place look like new again.
6. Make It Smell Inviting
Buyers use all five senses when looking at potential homes. Smell is a frequently forgotten aspect of selling, but it’s quite an important one.
Dirty litter boxes, lingering odors from last night’s dinner, and musty basements can be a major turn off to buyers.
Instead, clean it all up and consider baking cookies before a showing. Put out vases of fresh flowers. Or display lit, scented candles to not only make it smell good but feel cozy as well.
And rethink cooking that fish dinner the night before a showing. You can save that for later.
7. Tone Down the Colors
You may love that crimson red accent wall in your dining room… though potential buyers may not. And remember, you want them to be able to picture your house being their own. So it’s a good idea to tone down all bright colors in your home with neutral hues.
Tans, grays, and whites are the most popular colors that appeal to buyers. That’s because these tones can go with about any decor. And buyers will appreciate not having to come in and add painting to their to-do list.
Plus, a freshly painted room gives your home a sense of “newness” that buyers will love.
8. Organize Your Closets and Storage Cabinets
Storage space is a huge selling feature of a home. But if buyers walk in and see your closets overflowing and an unorganized pantry, they may not see how much storage your home actually offers.
Thin out the items in your closets. Add storage bins or baskets to give the space more organization and appeal.
Do the same with kitchen cabinets, pantries, and linen closets. Anything extra you pull out can go into a storage unit until you move.
Preparing Your Home for Sale Can Be a Big Pay Off
Put your house on a level above the rest. With some planning and a bit of work, preparing your home for sale can give you the payday you’ve been hoping for.
Don’t have time to keep your bathroom house-showing ready? Check out these tips for keeping your bathroom clean for a longer time.
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