Whether you have decided to sell your home or you are at least considering it you have to get your home ready for sale before you do anything else.
So many homes get listed prior to the sellers actually getting the home ready to sell and the home ends up sitting for months and sometimes needs to be listed over and over due to no offers coming in.
Before you put your home on the market make sure you do these key things:
Start Thinking of Your Home as a Commodity
You surely have an attachment to your home. You have probably spent at least a few years there and have invested time, money, effort, and love into making it a place where YOU are comfortable and where YOU are happy. But now you are trying to make other people feel comfortable and happy and sometimes the same things that worked for you don’t work for someone else.
In other words…remove all personal artifacts. Things such as photographs, books, and other personal items. These items force buyers to see YOU in this home instead of themselves.
If you are having trouble letting go of the personal aspects of your home just remember that the buyers are looking at dozens of homes. They are basically shopping at the store, if your home doesn’t stand out….they won’t want it.
Straighten Up and Clean Up
Start outside and make sure the lawn is cut, landscaping is neat, and the driveway is clean. If the mailbox is falling down and broken, buy a new one and install it correctly. If the doors, window trim, and shutters need painted, DO IT. Haven’t laid new tanbark or trimmed the shrubs in a few years….now is the time.
Curb appeal is CRITICAL when selling a home. The statistic goes something like this…buyers will have made up their mind about your home within the first 30 seconds of arrival. You need to give them some WOW factor as soon as they pull up.
Now move inside the home. Take your time and make sure you cover at least these important areas:
- Counters – get any and all appliances OFF the counter and stored someplace else. Counter space is critical when comparing kitchens…don’t keep yours cluttered.
- Neutral Colors – is your living room orange? Now is the time to change it. Sure it isn’t something a new home owner can’t do themselves but the problem is that they will be looking at and comparing homes based on what they see NOW not what they see later. Plus…would you want to paint a home right after you move in?
- Furniture – if you have a lot of extra furniture in your home now is the time to remove it. Nothing hurts a room more than over crowding it with furniture. People are looking for space. Rent a storage unit if you must but get the excess furniture out of the room.
There are plenty of other features to clean or tidy up but these will get you started. And please don’t forget to vacuum!
Fix Problems Now
Does the roof leak? If it does then hire a roofer. Sure you could just offer an amount to the buyers so they can do it themselves but if you are looking at dozens of homes wouldn’t you prefer to buy one that was READY to live in?
Is the carpet old and stained? Have you considered replacing it? Now is the time to do so. Head to Lowe’s or a local carpet store and see what they charge. If it is more than you can afford that is fine but at least get it cleaned PROFESSIONALLY. A couple hundred dollars should be able to get all the carpet in your home cleaned.
I understand you might not want to fix everything because you are moving and why should you put more money into a home that you won’t be living in soon. I get it. But if you don’t do some things than you might be staying longer than you think.
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The thing you have to keep in mind is, there are lots of homes on the market and people are viewing many different homes. If yours does not stand out then no one is going to buy it. You want to get as much money as possible, right? Then make some improvements and make your home the best in the price range and you will sell the home!