10 Easy Ways to Prepare Your Home For Sale
- Create a positive mood. Turn on all lights, day or night. Open the curtains during the day. Install higher watt light bulbs and make sure the bulbs are clean. If you have a fireplace, have it burning in the winter or on cool days.
- Keep all your rooms, including closets and storage areas, clean, organized and simply decorated. Remove all clutter from each room to visually enlarge them. Allow buyers to see what they can do with the space.
- While you want to keep things neutral, you can still add visual appeal and highlight the property’s potential with little touches. Put out fresh towels and decorative soap in the bathroom, set the table in the dining room and invest in a doormat.
- Remove all smoke odors, pet odors, and odors resulting from hobbies. Lightly spray the room with air freshener so that it has a chance to diffuse and air before the buyer arrives.
- Make all the minor and major repairs you can to the interior and exterior. Putty holes, paint walls and doorways, and repair or replace tiles and flooring. Make sure things like doors, windows, shades, awnings, roof and gutters are in good working order. A great first impression makes all the difference.
- Don't forget curb appeal. Keep the yard clean, mowed, and weeded, trees and shrubs trimmed, outdoor furniture looking great, and garden equipment stored neatly. Use flowering plants to dress up the yard and patio, and to highlight a pool or water garden. If you are selling in the winter, make sure walkways are cleared of snow and, if possible, take a picture of your yard in the summer to show buyers.
- Open doors to areas you want the potential buyer to see such as walk-in closets, pantries, attic and basement, and close all other closet doors and cabinets.
- Make the basement as pleasant as possible by airing it out, and decorating. If the basement shows any signs of water or structural damage it may be necessary to obtain a structural engineer's report.
- Keep the areas around sinks and toilets spotless. Replace the washers in faucets and remove rust stains from basins. Replace all toilet bowls and caulking if you cannot get them spotlessly clean.
- Finally, follow these few steps to help your home sell quickly:
- Arrive at a fair asking price using an appraisal.
- Don't be afraid to accept the first offer.
- Never volunteer information.
- Obtain a floor plan of your home if possible.
- Assemble house records for buyer perusal.
- Provide a map of the area and highlight special interest items.
- Only consider written offers by lender-pre-qualified buyers.
