Every seller wants their home to sell fast and bring top dollar, but how can you achieve that? It takes careful planning and knowing how to professionally spruce up your home that will send buyer scurrying for their checkbooks. Here’s how to prep your home and turn it into an irresistible marketable home:
Disassociate Yourself with Your Home- Say to yourself “this is not my home it is a house.” Make the mental decision to “let go” of your emotions to your home and focus on the fact that you will soon no longer own it. Picture yourself handing over the keys to the new homeowners. Say goodbye to every room and most important- don’t look backwards look forward to your new future.
De-Personalize- Pack up all of your personal photographs and family heirlooms. Buyers will not see past your personal artifacts and will get distracted. You want the buyer to imagine their own photos on the walls.
De-Clutter- You collect an amazing amount of junk throughout your time at your home so consider this: if you haven’t used it in over a year you probably don’t need it.
Rearrange Bedroom Closets and Kitchen Cabinets- Buyers love to snoop and will open all closets and cabinets. Make sure all cabinets and closets are cleaned out and organized. You do not want items to fall out on the buyer when they open a door.
Rent a Storage Unit- Almost every home shows better with less furniture. Remove pieces from each room that blocks paths and walkways and put them in storage. But leave enough furniture to make your rooms appear bigger.
Remove or Replace Favorite Items- If you plan on taking your window coverings, appliances, or fixtures with you remove them now. If the buyer never sees the items they won’t want it.
Make Minor Repairs- Replace cracked floor or counter tiles, patch holes in the wall, fix leaky faucets, fix doors that don’t close properly and kitchen drawers that jam, consider painting your walls neutral colors, replace lightbulbs, and consider buying new bedding for showings.
Make Your Home Sparkle- Wash all windows, pressure wash sidewalks and exterior, clean all cobwebs, recaulk tubs, showers, and mirrors, clean the fridge, vacuum daily, wax floors, dust furniture, ceiling fan blades and light fixtures, bleach dingy grout, replace rugs, hang new towels, and remove odors.
Scrutinize- Ask yourself if you would want to walk into your home, does it smell ok, will the buyer like my home, are my window coverings hanging correctly, does each room look good?
Check Curb Appeal- If a buyer won’t get out of their real estate agents car because of the exterior, you’ll never get anyone inside. Make sure you keep sidewalks clean, mow lawn, paint faded window trim, plant flowers, trim bushes and make sure visitors can read your house number.
