Selling your home can be overwhelming, especially if you have lived in your home for decades. Thinking about where you are going to go, getting the house ready, and trying to coordinate everything can really feel daunting. Having an agent walk you through the process will certainly be useful and helpful. When preparing to sell your home it’s important not to overspend. Many homeowner fail to consult with an agent and they just start doing renovations to their home, unfortunately many renovations, especially with today’s construction prices will not yield a good return on investment. There are certain renovations that do give a good bang for your buck but many that don’t. We will help guide you through these. Here are a few tips to consider.
- Depersonalize and De-clutter
You have decided to sell and a tough, but necessary step is to depersonalize and declutter. The easiest way to do this is to accept the fact that you will be moving soon, either purge your personal belongings or put most of your things in boxes. Each and every room should have a minimal, tasteful look, furnishings should be new or covered, countertops and tables should be completely cleared off. Pay attention to the details, the corners of the room, storage areas and especially the grounds and landscaping.
Buyers need to envision themselves living in your space. Your family photos, old furniture and eclectic color choice when painting the bathroom pink (for example) is going to create distractions.
Hiring a professional cleaning company to do a deep clean is recommended. You may also want to hire a landscaper to give the grounds a neat and tidy look. Hiring a stager or staging company is a great idea too but let us guide you with all these decisions! Each house is unique and there are no rules of thumb when it comes to this stuff.
Depersonalizing and decluttering your home or property is an important step to get right before any marketing work, which includes taking photos and videos, begins. Work closely with your agent to prepare it so buyers can see it in its very best light and then keep everything neat and tidy for showings. - Removing Items From the Home
Moving items to one part of the house like the garage is a great idea but to even take it a step further we can help with coordinating a moving sale and also arranging for a POD in the driveway. This will allow us to get the home SHOW READY.
- Make Repairs and Do Deferred Maintenance
Buyers are looking for a new home they can imagine themselves and their family living in; they are not looking for a long to do list of repairs. If they buy a project, they will want to pay less. With that in mind, it’s extremely important to make sure everything in your home, all its mechanical systems like heating and plumbing and appliances in the kitchen and bathroom, are in good, proper working order. We call this a pre inspection. Where a home inspector comes in and makes sure everything is in working order which will help avoid issues during due diligence. We can also offer a one year home warranty on appliances and major mechanicals which costs less than $900 for most homes but it really gives buyers peace of mind. We can help you make all the decisions when it comes to preparing your home for sale. Some things are worth it to fix while many are not but it all depends on your home, the ideal buyer, and the layout. For example, renovating a kitchen might not make sense if it’s not an open concept already. You could just spend the money to upgrade and then buyers come in and want to knock down walls and have a completely different layout than what is currently set up and won’t put any value on the newly renovated kitchen. We know what buyers want and what they don’t so we can help you with all these important decisions before putting your home up for sale.
- Enhance Curb Appeal and Landscaping
The curb appeal of your property is vital. It’s the first impression potential buyers get and you only get one chance to make a good first impression. Consider how to make your home’s exterior look more attractive, clean, symmetrical, abundant and welcoming. Consider hiring a landscaper to clean up your garden or lawn and add a few plants to improve its appeal. Paint the front door and railings, replace the mailbox, cut and water the lawn regularly and make sure the driveway is sealed. Again we will help you with these decisions. Just give us a ring and we will walk you through it.