How to Prepare Your House for Sale
Tue, Feb 9, 2010
Here we are at the beginning of the year and spring is just around the corner. Are you thinking about selling your house and having trouble making this big decision? If so, I recently wrote a two post series at Bible Money Matters that explored both financial and non financial considerations of selling your house.
But many of you have already made the decision to put your house on the market since this is one of the best times of year to sell. Others are considering the spring time which is another great time to list your house. Either way, preparing your house for sale is extremely important in receiving an offer. Consider these tips to get started.
Forget you’re living in a home
You have to remember that it’s a home to you, but a house to your realtor and the people looking at it. First seeing it as a house will help you take the emotions out of the situation and stage it properly.
Organize your house
Now is a good time to go through your closets and remove junk. Make sure storage boxes are neatly stacked. It’s also a good idea to organize drawers in common areas. Let’s face it. People will do some snooping. If your storage and drawers are in disarray people are less likely to see themselves organized in the house.
Simplify your house
Make sure rooms aren’t overcrowded. If you have a lot of furniture consider taking some out and moving it to other less populated areas of the house. Consider renting some temporary storage if you don’t have any room. Simple is also better when it comes to decorating. Don’t overdue pictures or wall decorations.
Do minor repairs and maintenance around the house
- Make sure holes are patched where pictures used to hang.
- Touch up the paint on walls.
- Fix toilets and make sure they flush properly.
- Check all light bulbs and replace as needed.
- Caulk showers.
- Oil squeaky doors
Clean your house
No one likes a dirty house, especially, the bathrooms and kitchen. We all know these areas of a busy home can be difficult to keep clean, but when you’re showing your house people want to know they are going to move into a house that has been well kept. If you just can’t seem to find the time consider hiring a cleaning service while your house is on the market.
Have curb appeal
Curb appeal is extremely important. You’ve probably heard hiring decisions are made in the first 5 minutes of an interview. I think it’s true in selling your house. If someone walks up and the front door isn’t clean or scratched up from wear and tear, you’re going to give them a bad impression from the beginning. Here are a few tips for great curb appeal:
- Refinish or paint the front door
- Add fresh layer of mulch around shrubs and landscaping
- Plant flowers
- Clean windows
- Trim trees and shrubs as needed
Use neutral colors
Tone down the boldness. You have to realize your taste for bright colors may not be that of others. While these colors are perfectly fine for some, consider repainting bold rooms with simple or neutral colors. I would consider asking your real estate agent for an unbiased opinion.
Have a house showing plan
Have a game plan. Finally, one of the best things you can do to prepare for the sell of your house is to have a plan when a showing is scheduled. If you have children, perhaps have fewer toys available for playing in common areas o there is a less to clean when you need to rush out the door.
Also, it’s always better if you’re not in the house when it’s being showed. Potential buyers don’t want the added pressure of the owner being in the same room. Make every effort you can to leave and to also make sure the house is in order when you do.
What additional tips can you think of to prepare your house for sell?
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Tags: Home Selling, Prepare
I remember all of these suggestions when we sold our house a few years ago. So true that the house needs to look like no one is living there. We had young kids at the time and that was tough. We may know that we’re not supposed to live there, but tell that to kids!
There are people out there who prep houses for sale, I believe they’re called “stagers”. They come in and make suggestions on what to rearrange and what to get rid of. It’s probably a good idea to pay for this service since most of us are less than objective when it comes to our homes. It’s kind of like getting an opinion of your home from a stranger, which is exactly what’s needed.
One other thing–smells! A pleasant smell in the house can endear people to it immediately, a foul one can turn them off. The old realtor trick is to bake cookies or boil cinnamon when you’re having an open house or the house will be shown to prospects. Makes the house smell like home, and that’s part of how we experience things.
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Kevin, yes, with children it’s so hard to keep things organized and clean. I agree that the objective opinion of a stager or even an honest real estate agent can be helpful in giving you a true evaluation. Overall I think folks are in for a big surprise if they think they can just put it on the market without thinking through some of these things. It might sell, but it may be there for a while.
Nice article! This is a good one for those who are planning to sell their house. Organizing is the most important thing.. It’s careful planning and knowing how to professionally spruce up your home that will send home buyers scurrying for their checkbooks.
Good post, Jason. Just remember, though, if a house isn’t competitively priced, it makes no difference what else you do to prepare!
I’ve seem gorgeously-staged and cleaned-up homes sit idle for more than a year because the owner had an unrealistic view of what the house was really worth.
All the best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
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Len, well said. You do have to do your market homework before putting your house on the market and have realistic expectations. Thanks for the comment!