Get Ready to Sell Your Home
 | Make an effort! The more effort you put into getting your home ready to sell, the closer you will come to selling your home quickly for a price that is closer to your expectations. |
Here are some tips so that you can get going.
- Pride of Ownership sells. If your home appears well maintained and loved, it implies that you have looked after it and that future owners will look forward to enjoying the benefits of your care and attention to detail. You will also be able to compete with other homes for sale in your area.
- Declutter:Take a look around, a real hard look, and get rid of all the clutter. Have a garage sale, pre pack things you are sure you want to take with you but that are not essential. Get rid of the rest- do you really want to pay to move it?
- Depersonalize: This is tough. It's your home and you've probably worked hard to get it the way it is. Well, the new owners will want do the same thing so make it easy for them to visualize their things in each room. Remove all the personal signatures on your home- football trophies, photos that are 'extra' , mementos from your last vacation, weird posters from the '70s... you get the picture.
- Clean- Clean your home thoroughly including grout and baseboards. Pay attention to details- people notice pride of ownership! It may be worth hiring a cleaning service to get you started or having them come in weekly while your home is on the market.
- Paint- Take a tour of your home and make a list of paint work that needs refreshing both inside and out. If you are going to repaint a room, use neutral shades. You want your home to look great compared to other homes for sale.
- Floors and carpets-Look at the high traffic areas and if you can't clean it , replace it.
- Kitchens and bathrooms are high traffic areas. Take a real look at the condition of the floors especially in front of the basin and the toilet in the bathroom and in front of the stove and the kitchen sink.
- Carpets need to be steam cleaned at the least and be aware of animal smells or odors. If you replace the carpets, choose a neutral color and carpet the whole area if possible. A house with one color carpet throughout looks bigger.
- Garage-Sorry, but you can't take everything out of the house and dump it in the garage. Floor space should be clean and garage items stored neatly. And get rid of the cob webs at the same time- back to pride of ownership again!
- Garden-Your garden is to your house like a frame is to an oil painting. Let the care and attention you have put into your home spill over into your garden. Tidy up, spruce up and add some color, if necessary, by planting inexpensive annuals. Bark is great for adding definition to flower beds and keeping weeds down. Sweep and clean off pathways and the driveway. Prune trees. First impressions count and buyers will see your garden and landscaping before they see the inside of your house so, make a good impression!