Preparing Your Home to Sell

Are you ready to sell your home?  Don’t just put your home on the market without any preparations, because remember you only get one first impression!!  A little bit of touching up and deep cleaning can go along way.  So put yourself in the shoes of a new home buyer walking thru your home for the very first time.  Make notes on what you would want repaired or replaced as a home buyer.  To help you get started, here are a few tips that we think are important when trying to sell your home.

1.  Clean, clean, clean:  Dust on top of those hard to reach places.  For example, your fireplace, ceiling fans, window blinds, even your air vents could use a good cleaning.  If you have already moved out, it is important to make sure either you stop by every week, or hire a cleaning crew to visit the home.
2. Clear out the clutter:  You want a home buyer to focus on how great the rooms are and to be able to picture how they would use the space, not on how messy your room is.
3. Be careful of smells:  Try not to cook certain foods before you have a showing.  Not everyone wants to walk into a home smelling of onions.  Also if you are someone who likes to burn certain scented candles, maybe hold off on that until after your home sells.
4. Repaint the walls a neutral color:  If your daughter’s bedroom is hot pink, you might want to repaint it.  Not every buyer will have a daughter to live in that pink room.  Keep the rooms light, you want home buyers to be able to envision themselves in your home.  To learn more about our favorite neutral paint colors, click here.
5. Let there be light:  Open all of the windows to let in natural light.  Also add floor and table lamps to areas that might appear dim.  The more light in a room, the bigger the room will appear.
6. Organize your closets:  Closets that are busting at the seams only signifies to a home buyer that your home lacks storage, and storage space is a huge selling point! Invest in boxes, dividers, and other solutions that will help make your home appear more organized.
7. Tackle that honey-do list:  You know that list that just keeps growing and growing?  Well now is the perfect time to tackle those home projects.  So take the time to fix those scuff marks on the walls and tighten all the knobs in your home.
8. Boost your homes curb appeal:  You don’t want to focus all of your attention on the inside of your home and forget about the exterior.  A buyer might decide to not even enter your home because of its curb appeal (or lack there of).  So if your front door needs a fresh coat of paint, or your yard needs some TLC, now is a great time!