For Sale By Owner – Preparing Your Home For Sale
One of the most frequently overlooked ingredients to a timely sale is the diligent care taken by the homeowner when preparing their property for sale. Potential buyers are drawn to properties that have been strategically groomed for the marketing process.
Here are some ideas that you might find helpful.
Getting Your Home Ready To Sell
You would never dream of inviting guests to your house without making certain preparations, so don’t invite potential buyers without first making the necessary updates by preparing your home to sell. If you are like most sellers, you want to get as much as possible for your home and you want to do it as quickly as possible.
Letting Go
After you’ve lived in a house, it becomes much more than four walls and a ceiling. It’s a home and it has a lot of good memories. Your first step to preparing your home to sell is to realize that you will take these memories with you wherever you go, but you won’t be taking the house. It can be difficult to let go, but the task will be much easier if you start to think of it as a new beginning rather than an ending.
Cleaning House
An important part of getting your home ready to sell is in staging the decor for potential buyers. When you stage a home, you create an environment that is free of any personal items, such as photos and/or anything that stands out as being customized for you or your family. When a potential buyer walks through your home, they need to envision their belongings and decor without being distracted by yours.
While these items may be special to you, they could possibly prevent the buyer from being able to imagine their own style complementing the home. In addition to removing any personal items, make sure that you remove any clutter from the home. A clean home seems larger and more inviting, whereas a lot of stuff laying around could give the impression that the home is too small or cramped for storage. Pack up any knickknacks, remove your children’s drawings from the refrigerator, and clean up your counter space in both the kitchen and bathrooms.
Staging Your Home
Now that your house is clean, it’s time to put the finishing touches on the staging process. Did you know that the kitchen and bathroom are two of the main selling points to any home? Keep this in mind when preparing your home for potential buyers.
Some homeowners also add a fresh coat of paint to their home, which will bring life back into a fading color. Turn on the lights and open the blinds and draperies to create a bright and inviting environment throughout your home.
Where To Store Your Stuff
Now that you know how important it is to remove any clutter and oversized or bulky furniture, you need to know where to put it. If you already have a new home, you can simply move it there. Otherwise, you can put it into storage until you are ready to move. It’s important to leave some essentials in your former home for potential buyers to see, such as a dining room table, a sofa and chairs, bed, etc. Any additional furnishings that seem to interrupt the flow of your home, or make it feel cramped, should be removed. You do not want potential buyers to feel as though the house is too small.
Curb Appeal
When we take on a new property, we create a custom-tailored list of suggestions for boosting the home’s curb appeal, but here is some general advice you can use to entice potential buyers into giving your property a closer look:
- Declutter your yard. Your kid’s or pet’s toys, hoses, gardening tools-store them all out of sight.
- Fix anything that’s broken. A leaning mailbox, cracked steps, or a damaged fence can all adversely impact your curb appeal.
- Keep your lawn mowed and weed-free, and remove grass clippings from walkways and sidewalks.
- Do some landscaping. Flower beds add a splash of color and do wonders for curb appeal.
- Pressure wash your home’s exterior and paint if needed.
- Update your front door. If you can’t afford a new door, paint the one you have a bold shade to complement your home’s exterior. A large wreath can also add color and drama. Consider giving garage doors a facelift as well.
- Make sure your porch and yard furniture looks fresh and inviting.
- Buy a new welcome mat and place potted flowers near the entrance.
Details, Details, Details . . .
As a final strategy to prepare your home to sell, make sure that you have any carpet stains removed, windows cleaned, fresh linens placed in the bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. You would be surprised at how many people pay attention to even the smallest of details, so be sure to fix any small repairs that could be a turnoff for buyers. Last, but not least, make sure your home looks just as good on the outside as it does on the inside.
Experience has proven to us that when homeowners take the time to adequately prepare their home for the market the time it takes to sell their home is reduced significantly while the sales price is maximized.