What To Do When Preparing To Sell Your Home

Selling your home can be stressful and at times, very overwhelming for you and your family.  Wondering what you should price it at, moving time frames, packing, finding your new home, etc.—-all of the questions can sometimes seem endless.

Finding the right real estate agent to help you to feel more at ease, answer your questions and guide you all the way through the closing process are just some of the things you should expect your agent to do.   

Let’s sell your home:

–First, you should interview at least three agents… You should feel comfortable and have trust in the agent that you choose. Ask each agent to give you a marketing plan that explains what they will do to market your home, and also ask them to prepare a Comprehensive Market Analysis (CMA). This will give you an idea of what is going on with home sales (that are comparable to your home) in your area.

–Pricing Your Home — Do not select an agent based on a suggested sales price or on the amount of commission that is charged. Some agents may overprice your home or underbid the commission  to get the listing.  This is where your CMA’s come in handy.  Do your homework and read and compare what each agent has to say regarding the sale of your home.  This is a great tool for helping you to decide what a fair market value will be for your home.  Talking with your prospective agent will also help you and them to determine if the two of you will work well with each other.

–Preparing you home — Compare suggestions and consider accepting the most sound advice. Generally, you will want to move out clutter and excess furniture. You will also want to clean the home and keep it ‘viewable’ at all times.

***See the below guide for more detailed tips and suggestions.
*Repairs and Home Improvements Before Selling — Not all resale repairs will pay off. You don’t want to spend a lot of money making improvements, but you do want to repair any obvious maintenance issues whether they are small or large.  Some examples are:

• Replace burnt out light bulbs
• Repair or replace doors that won’t open or close properly, kitchen cabinets that won’t close, garage doors that stick or are lop-sided
• Fix leaky faucets and toilets that stay running
• Patch holes in the walls
• Replace any cracked or broken glass in the windows
• Replace any cracked tile in the floors or counter tops
• Try using more neutral colors— sometimes bold or wild colors can be a ‘turn-off’ for potential buyers.
• Have your HVAC serviced.
• Check for any frayed wiring
• Inspect caulking and replace any that is deteriorating.
• REMEMBER:   Potential buyers will notice the things that need improving.  If there are a lot of little things to notice, it may give the impression that the home is not well cared for.

*De-Clutter, De- Personalize and Disassociate

As much as you may love/care for your home, you will need to remember that potential buyers do not have the same emotional attachment as you.  You need to remind yourself that you are selling the home and look at your home  through the ‘buyers’ eyes’.   Now is the time to ‘let go’ and look to the future.

It is time to pack up all the personal photographs.  Pack up all the family heirlooms.   Pack up items that are most noticeable (i.e., artwork, collections, etc.).  All of these things are hard for the buyer to see past.  It takes their attention away from your home you are selling and places their focus on your ‘personal effects’.   Remember, You want them to visualize the home as ‘theirs’….not wondering about the people who are currently living in the home.  NOTE:  it is most important that you pack away all valuables, medicines, guns, etc. 

It is also time to put away the unnecessary clutter.

• Pack up the knickknacks,
• Remove books from the bookcases
• Clean off the kitchen counters
• Remove items from the tops of dressers and other shelves
• De-clutter the outside also.

 

Rearrange the Kitchen Cabinets, Bedroom Closets, and Garage Shelves.  This may sound silly, but as a prospective buyer, seeing that the home is neatly organized ‘on the inside’ is a way of helping them to believe that you take good care of your home.  Some of the things that you can do are:

• Line your shoes up neatly in your closet
• Arrange your clothes to all face one direction
• If you have shelves in your closet, neatly stack a few items on the shelves, removing the majority
• If you have a pantry, organize it so that all the can items are in one area; put the box items together, the spices together, etc.
• In your kitchen cupboards, drawers and lazy susan(s)…  do you need ALL the items in them?   Remove excess dishware, pots and pans, small utensils.  Neatly stack and arrange the rest.
• Don’t forget about linen closets  —  the same principal applies here.  Remove the excess that you won’t be using in the next couple months.  Fold and stack the remaining neatly.
• Remove garbage/junk from the garage—  try to organize the remaining.
• Rent a storage unit if necessary.

REMEMBER:  if your home is ‘busting-at-the-seams’ with massive amounts of belongings, it may give the buyer the idea that there is not enough room or storage for them also.

A Sparkling Home!!  

• Wash the windows and groves in the windows and make sure the window coverings are hung level —  this is something that the buyer will be looking at
• Clean the bathrooms.  And, when there is going to be a showing, make sure that all of the toilet lids are down
• Clean the front of the kitchen appliances (i.e., refrigerator, stove, dishwasher) and clean the front of the kitchen cabinets
• Dust end tables, lamps, ceiling fans, etc.
• Vacuum daily and keep the floors looking nice
• Keep the home smelling good.  If you have pets, musty smells or other odors that are unpleasant—  odors are just a plain no-no.   Bring a couple friends to your home and ask them how it smells, what do they smell.

 

Lastly

Go to your front door and look in—-  is it pleasant?   Is it inviting?   Make prospective buyers feel welcome.  They saw the neighborhood while driving to your home, they’ve seen the outside and they liked the curb appeal, so they’ve decided that it worthy to go inside.  Now is the time to make them feel like this is the home for them.

• Arrange furniture so that there is a comfortable flow…so there is room to walk
• Have all the lights on and windows coverings open
• Again, how does the home smell?
• Is the home a comfortable temperature?
• Soft pleasant music is appealing.  Wrapped candy in a bowl with a ‘help-yourself’ sign is nice.  Don’t go overboard, small touches can make a large impact

Your home is now ready to be shown!  You can be confident that buyers will see it as a well-cared for house