Once the decision is made to sell your house,there are a few changes you can make that will enable a potential buyer to more easily see it as the house of their dreams.
Since you are moving anyway, start by packing. Remove clutter by packing and storing the clothing and items you don’t need at present. Pay particular attention to the removal of all the small personal touches that mark this as your family home. The photographs, trophies and awards that define your personal space, need to be removed to allow your buyers to visualize their own keepsakes arranged here.
Remove some of your furniture, if possible. Houses show better with less furniture than most of us have accumulated over time. By storing out-of-season clothing, your closets should be easier to arrange neatly. Crowded, cluttered closets and storage areas give the appearance of inadequate storage in a home. We can usually get along well with less “stuff” for a time and it does give a house more appeal to others.
Clean, clean, clean! Immaculate sells. Even those of us who are what is euphemistically described as “indifferent” housekeepers don’t want to visualize ourselves living in cluttered, soiled surroundings. Lots of potential home buyers are better than “indifferent” housekeepers to begin with. You get the idea, it can’t be too clean! Clean floors, walls, counters, window treatments, windows, furnishings, appliances, fixtures…everything! Your best investment may be hiring an outside cleaning service. Those pros see things the rest of us miss!
Ideally, you should complete the de-clutter and cleaning processes before calling your Realtor to list your house for sale. She will be photographing and/or videoing your home during the listing process; in the interest of an early sale, it is to your advantage to have the photos reflect a clean, attractive dwelling. Over 85% of home buyers begin their search for a new home on the internet, they are going to see the pictures of homes and decide which to look at in person. Give yourself the advantage of having your home staged for sale when the photos are taken.
First impressions are often subliminal and more important than we often appreciate. Think curb appeal. Nice landscaping, well trimmed lawn and shrubbery, clean, tidy approach to the front door. Both approach and door should be attractive, and time and money spent on the entry to your home is a good investment.
Kitchens and bathrooms are the most difficult to keep “ready to show”. A little daily effort can pay dividends in a prompt sale.
Odor control is huge! Those of you who smoke, or have pets, or fried fish (or liver) last evening are probably accustomed to what our house smells like. We aren’t aware. Febreze is good, so are clean litterboxes.
Stage it and sell it! By the time you get this all done, you may decide you don’t want to move! In the event you still want to sell your house, give me a call (480.695.2134).
