Tips to Help SELL Your Home

Posted by Blackburn

 

OUTSIDE

  • Think about model homes.  Plant colorful plants in the flower beds and accent with dark black mulch.  If you have a beautiful perennial garden, take some photos of it for perspective buyers.  In the winter months it may be hard to visualize what the yard will look like in the springtime.
  • Keep your yard mowed and watered as well as trimming shrubs and trees.  Curb appeal is real and not just a TV show.
  • Clean your front porch including spider webs, wasp and bird nests.
  • Replace anything broken on the porch as well as tarnished fixtures, knobs and doorbells.  Add a nice front mat.  Your home is making its first impression on the buyers as their realtor opens the lockbox.
  • Take off all window screens and store them in the garage where they can be seen by potential buyers.
  • Have your windows professionally cleaned.  It’s money well spent and you won’t believe the difference.

INSIDE

  • Repaint or neutralize paint colors  throughout the home.  Remove all wallpaper.  First time buyers don’t know how to take it down and buyers that are moving up just fixed up their current home and don’t want to fix up a new one.
  • Use touch up paint for scuffs and marks on the walls.  Repair any holes in the sheetrock.  Clean fingerprints from doors and light switches.
  • De-clutter!  Take out any unnecessary furniture.
  • Take down photos of yourself and family members.
  • Minimize books and collections.  Clean built-ins and desk areas.
  • Open the blinds and curtains so that natural light comes in.
  • Again, think about model homes.  Stage your home to look like one or hire a professional stager to help.
  • Fresh flowers are a nice addition to a dining room or kitchen.

BATHROOMS & KITCHENS

  • Organize cabinets and remove items and appliances from countertops.
  • Thin out the amount of food in the pantry.  Fewer items will make it look bigger.
  • Clean out the oven and other appliances that come with the home.
  • Clean showers, tubs and sinks thoroughly and touch up the grout.

CLOSETS

  • De-clutter!  Thin out your clothes and remove items from the floor.  Stack items neatly on shelves.  The bigger your closets look the better.
  • Put a couple of dryer sheets on the top shelf of every closet.  When buyers open the door they will get a whiff of fresh clothes and not stinky shoes.

OTHER

  • Replace all light bulbs with BRIGHT bulbs.  Selling your home is not the time to save the environment, so let your home shine BRIGHT!
  • Change all A/C filters and vacuum A/C vents and registers.
  • Have the chimney for both the furnace and fireplace checked and cleaned.
  • Have your carpets and home professionally cleaned to make your home feel spotless.
  • Rent a storage shed or a POD to hold all the “stuff” you’ve removed from your home.  If you can’t afford one of those options, stack items neatly in the garage.

 

The goal in all of this is to maximize the potential of your home and sell it quickly.  Buyers buy homes that they WANT to live in and will usually decide if a house will make their short list within a few minutes of walking inside.  Put most of your effort into the main living areas, kitchen and master bedroom and bath.  Buyers generally understand that kid rooms are kid rooms, just make sure they are picked up and tidy.  A house can never be too clean.  When in doubt, clean it!