Getting Ready to Sell

PREPARING AND STAGING YOUR HOME

Your house is your home.  It’s your castle.  However, when you decide to put your home on the market it becomes a product to sell.  Your desire to sell your home for the most money, in the shortest amount of time, and with the least obstacles requires that you properly prepare your home and stage it to look it’s best to any buyer walking through your front door.  Here is a list of things to do to get your home in top shape for selling.

  1. Take out the trash and clutter.  Clean off your counters, closets, and floor space.  Make your home look spacious.  Leave only decorative items on your counters.  Pack away any clothes and shoes that you are not needing.  Store excess furniture that takes up too much space.  Take personal photographs and family heirlooms off the walls and off the night stand.  Pack any excess books (you know the ones you never read).  Rent a storage unit or if you have a third or fourth bay in your garage, store those things neatly against one of the walls.
  2. Organize your closets, pantry, and storage areas.  Buyers open all doors so give them a good impression of the storage space in your home.
  3. Clean your home and keep it shining all the while you are marketing it.  Wash the windows, polish the plumbing fixtures, vacuum daily, mop the hardwood or tile floors, clean the shower doors, clean any stained grout around the tub and shower, dust light fixtures and ceiling fans, replace worn rugs and hang up fresh towels in the bathrooms.  Keep the air in the house fresh.  If you have pets, loan them out to a friend or board them while the house is on the market.
  4. Make repairs.  Replace cracked tiles.  Patch holes in the walls.  Where necessary, paint the walls, baseboards, door jams, etc.  Fix plumbing leaks.  Replace burned out light bulbs.  Clean the carpets.  Again if necessary, have your hardwood floors refinished.
  5. Have your furnace and air conditioner serviced by a professional.  Keep the receipt and show it to the buyer or inspector when the house is inspected prior to closing.  Most buyers will ask that the heating and cooling system be serviced anyway.
  6. Curb appeal is important.  The most bang for the buck is cleaning up the landscaping.  Power wash the driveway and sidewalks.  Keep the lawn mowed and trimmed around the edges.  Stain the fencing and deck if needed.  Trim back bushes and shrubs around the house.  Lay perma-bark or wood chips around the flower beds and trees.  Keep the garden weeded and plant flowers…bright colors preferred.  If the kids have a play area, make sure it looks neat and inviting.
  7. Paint the exterior of the house.  Choose colors that are current.  You may want to tour a newer neighborhood to see which colors are being used.
  8. If your roof is over 15 years old, have it inspected by a professional roofer.   Keep the receipt to show the results of the inspection to a prospective buyer or their inspector.  If the roof has less than a two year life expectancy, replace it.  You will likely be required to have it done if it doesn’t have more life than that.
  9. Clean your garage.  Have it organized and neat.  Throw out or give away any stuff that you haven’t used for two years or more.
  10. Be sure the  front door, door jam, and threshold sparkle.  The buyer will be staring at that while they wait to be let in by you or their agent.  It will be their first impression.

Be sure remove any items that are fixed to the house that you want to keep.  Usually if a buyer sees it, they will want it.  Remember to let go of your emotions.  Your house is just a product to the average buyer.  They don’t have the fond memories that you do of your home.  Try to visualize the house as a buyer would.  Make the necessary repairs and staging decisions that will give any buyer a great impression.