Sellers

Tips on Preparing Your Home to Sell - First Impressions

As you prepare your home for the market, it is important to keep in mind that you have only one chance to make a first impression. Buyers start to form an opinion the minute they drive up to a property. You can help create that good first impression by presenting potential purchasers with a tidy and well cared for yard and exterior. These first important encounters create a positive impression that carries thru to the rest of your property.

Exterior Staging Tips

• Stay on top of lawn mowing and maintenance and tidy up your landscaping.
• Declutter the yard by removing toys, bicycles and scooters or anything that is unattractive.. Your front door is a focal point of potential buyers. Make sure it is scrubbed clean or completely repainted if necessary
• Place a welcome mat in front of the door.
• Clean windows until they're sparkling. Fix broken windows or screens.
• Make sure your street numerals are polished and in place.
• Repair any loose shingles - the last thing a potential buyer wants to worry about is the roof.
• Clean and repair your gutters.
• Refrain from political or other signs.

Once the exterior wows potential buyers, you'll need to continue to make an impact on them as they make their way through the front door. An inviting atmosphere insures your home is well cared for and conveys a sense of pride.

Stage your Interior! Staging is all about removing things from your home that make it look smaller, drab or dated. The key to staging is simplicity and knowing how to maximize space to make rooms appear larger and more inviting with just a few clever design tweaks. It is important that prospective buyers can picture themselves in the home.

• Organize and declutter. Make sure kitchen and bathroom countertops are as clear as possible. Try to keep toys organized in closets and shelves and temporarily remove any excess knickknacks or family photos if you tend to have a lot. Clean off the magnets from the refrigerator.
• Replace any nonfunctioning light bulbs in your light fixtures and vanities.
• Touch up paint if your walls have a few rough spots.
• Practically any beaten up hardwood floor can be salvaged with refinishing. Call a professional tile company to freshen grout or, for do-it-yourselfers, hardware stores sell grout paint.
• Make sure faucets are drip-free.
• Thoroughly clean appliances, including the inside of your oven and microwave.
• Eliminate odors as much as possible - place potpourri in the bathrooms, use air freshener and deodorizer, especially if you have indoor pets. If you smoke, DO NOT SMOKE IN THE HOUSE!
• Clean out closets. Store out of season clothes elsewhere and neatly arrange what's left.
• Clean the fireplace.
• If you have too much furniture, place some of it in storage.
• Hang fresh clean towels in the bathrooms.
• Do a complete top to bottom cleaning of each room and be especially diligent in the kitchen and bathrooms. Clean all windows and curtains/blinds.
• Add some final touches, a couple of fresh bouquets of flowers and some nice potted plants in decorative containers can do wonders.
• Let the light in. Open blinds and turn on all the lights in the house before all showing
• Your goal is to present a simple, clean, attractive home that exudes potential - a tasteful and enticing palette for your home's next owners.
• Clean houses sell.