Every home seller wants their home to sell quickly and for top dollar and it takes more than luck to ensure that possibility. It involves planning carefully and knowing how to professionally spruce up your home so that you can easily convince home buyers that your home is the best investment on their list. In this article we want to give you some professional tips and tricks you can do yourself to make your home show-ready.
Depersonalizing and Decluttering Your Home
It can be a difficult and emotional time if you are selling a home you have lived in for a long time. It can be tough letting go. Before you begin this process, take some time to say goodbye to your home. Visit each room and think about all the wonderful times spent there. Talk with your family and friends about great memories in the home and then look to the future.
Start with depersonalizing your space. Pack up personal photographs and artifacts like children’s artwork and family heirlooms. Eventually these things will be packed away anyway, and potential buyers tend to get very distracted by personal items within listed homes. You want the buyers to visualize their own photos on the walls and their own heirlooms put out on display. This also applies to furniture too. Not everyone has the same taste in furniture. It is our suggestion to remove bright and “loud” items and stick with the more understated pieces.
If you have acquired a lot of stuff throughout your time in your home, it is essential to take ample time to declutter. If you have not used a certain item for over a year, you probably don’t need it. If you don’t need it, it can always be donated or sold in a moving sale or in an online marketplace! We also suggest removing books from bookcases and small knickknacks from kitchen counters. Start packing things away in boxes and store them in closets or attic space. This will give you a great head start on the packing/moving process too. It’s a win-win!
Organization Says a lot about You as a Homeowner
Take time to clean out bedroom closets and storage cabinets. Interested homebuyers want to know what the home has for their own storage so they will most likely open your closets and cabinet doors. When they see everything organized, it subconsciously tells them that you probably took really good care of the rest of the home too. Think about organizing the items throughout your kitchen too, like your refrigerator and spice cabinet. How about your bedroom closets? Are they organized? Are they arranged in a way that showcases their efficiency? While organizing, it’s important to see everything from a buyer’s perspective.
Most homes show better with less furniture. Remove anything that blocks a path or walkway and put them in a storage unit. Its best to leave just enough to showcase the room’s designated purpose with plenty of extra room for the potential buyers to move around. It is best to also remove any window coverings, light fixtures or other built-in appliances you might be taking with you. This way, you can avoid any conflict over items a buyer might have thought were included with the home.
Your Home’s Curb Appeal
First impressions are crucial, and your home’s front is no exception. Did you know adding curb appeal to your home can increase your home’s value 3% – 5%? And according to the National Association of realtors, 63% of potential homebuyers will drop by after viewing the home they like. All they will see at that time is your home’s exterior. This includes your front entry, yard, driveway and sidewalk. The home’s exterior should represent what’s to come once inside the home; a beautiful, well thought-out and clean space.
During the listing period you should make take extra special care to make sure your lawn is mowed, and your garden maintained. Planting flower beds also adds a variety of color and texture that buyers always appreciate. At the very least, make sure your porch is clean and swept and that you have sprayed for any pests or bugs. No one wants to view a porch crawling with creepy spiders and bugs. During the fall and winter months, it is also a best practice to keep your yard raked, branches cleaned up, and your sidewalks clear and salted.
Most potential homebuyers begin their home search online so it is crucial to have clean and beautiful professional photos of your home. Before doing this, take a few photos yourself and critique the status of your space. That is a great way to get your show checklist put together. Walk around your home’s exterior and interior with a critical eye and notepad and pen. Note anything that needs removed, repaired or replaced. You never know what you might run across that you have never noticed before like a missing piece of siding or a water spot on a ceiling.
Prepare for Last Minute Showings
The best approach to a last-minute home showing is to be prepared for it ahead of time. Even if you have children, you can do a few things each day to make last minute clean up easier.
Every morning you should take time to follow a routine for prepping your home. Make all your beds, open all your curtains and blinds and wipe down the bathrooms. This is also time to turn off all diffusers and wax warmers so when showings come through, your home will be pleasantly filled with a natural, inviting smell.
Maintain your cleaning habits each day. Most sellers deep clean their home before they list it. This makes it easy to keep things neat and tidy. It is also helpful to set a weekly cleaning schedule to keep up with bathrooms and dusting. Getting into the habit of cleaning while you cook is also a great way to maintain and save time keeping the kitchen clean. Sweep the kitchen floor more often than normal since the kitchen is a very important place for potential home buyers.
Create a plan for what you will do when a last-minute call comes in to show your home. Do you need a baby sitter on hand for your children? Do you have a friend or family member’s home ready for you to visit during a show time? These are important things to consider before you put your home on the market. For more details and ideas to prepare for your home, talk with your realtor at Galvan and Gardner. They know all the best tips and smart tricks to make sure your home is sold fast or rented out as quickly as possible.
