As a REALTOR®️, one of my primary roles it helping sellers get their home ready to list. When I meet with a client about possibly putting their house on the market for sale, I sometimes have the difficult job of being brutally honest with them about their beloved home. I have to be the one to point out the flaws or anything that they have to do to bring their house to the point where it’s ready to sell.
The things that have to be taken care of to get your house ready to sell are different from the normal care and maintenance you do when you’re living there. Now, let’s get your home ready to sell.
Curb Appeal | The first thing you need to pay attention to is curb appeal. I cannot tell you how many homebuyers I’ve driven around and they took one look at the house from the outside and decided that they were not even going to go in. A few things you need to pay attention to are: Is your grass cut? is your front door attractive? Is your doorbell old and dated? Is your mailbox old and dated? Does your shrubbery need updated mulch? Is your water hose or other outdoor items stored away neatly? Does your house need pressure washing? Do your shutters need painting or replaced?
Declutter | If you are like me, you have a lot of stuff. I don’t care how minimalist you try to live, you are going to have a lot of stuff. The first thing you need to do is declutter. Start going through your things and decide how you’d like to deal with excess items. Will you sell, donate, throw away or give away these items? Whatever needs to be done you need to begin this process as soon as possible as it can be pretty time consuming. If you need to store things until you sell, then find a storage place and store it. No homebuyer wants to walk in your home and see a lot of clutter.
Interior | Next, take a look at your walls. Do you have any dings, dents or holes? If so, you need to take care of that. Once that’s done, you need to paint your walls a neutral color. Homebuyers need to be able to imagine themselves in your space. They may decide to paint the walls blue or green or pink but that should be their decision. Also, your interior doors may need a new coat of paint. So freshen them up as well. Make sure the fixtures are updated in your bathrooms and kitchen. Ensure any date faucets, ceiling fans or light fixtures receive a fresh new look. Even if it means you replace one fixture at a time.
Moving to floors, if you have carpet and it’s old, it’s best to have it replaced if it’s in the budget. If you have carpet and it’s not that old, then you may be able to get by with having it cleaned.
Deep Clean | Right before you put your house on the market, be sure to treat it to a thorough deep cleaning. Buyers look at everything so make sure everything is clean, decluttered and organized.
