Preparing Your Home
Doing whatever you can to put your house’s best face forward is very important if you want to get your asking price or sell as quickly as possible. Short of spending a lot of money, here are a number of ideas for making your home show better:
Maximize Curb Appeal
Before potential buyers even see what the home has to offer, they view its exterior. As a result, an unkempt or unattractive view of the outside of the home could potentially result in a missed opportunity. To show the house in its best light, consider the following:
- Move all materials, including garbage cans and gardening supplies from the front yard and into a garage or shed.
- Mow the lawn and weed and maintain all planted areas.
- Replace any outdoor light bulbs that are not working.
- Sweep all walkways, steps and patios.
- Keep the number of ornamental or decorative items on the porch and throughout the yard to a minimum.
- Replace worn or badly stained doormats.
Inside the House
Once a potential home buyer enters the home, they need to determine if it will meet their needs and expectations. Give them the best view of the homes interior by following these steps:
- Remove the home of any clutter by limiting decorative objects and clearing all unnecessary appliances from kitchen countertops.
- Clean the windows (both inside and out), floors, sinks, toilets, baths and shower stalls.
- Make sure paint is in good shape. Speaking of paint, if your home was built prior to 1978, new federal law gives a buyer the right to request a lead inspection. If you think you might have some problems, have the inspection done yourself beforehand and make any fixes you can.
- Organize closets.
- Make sure basic appliances and fixtures work. Get rid of leaky faucets and frayed cords.
- Rearrange or remove furniture to highlight the space in a room.
- Review each room for cleanliness and neatness.
For Showing:
- Make sure the house smells good; from apple pie or cookies baking to spaghetti sauce simmering. Hide the kitty litter.
- Put vases of fresh flowers throughout the house.
- Open window covering during the day.
- Turn on all lights and light fireplace during appropriate seasons.
- Having pleasant background music playing will also help set your stage.
- Keep pets penned.
- Be absent during showings.
