Are you getting ready to sell your home? The process can feel overwhelming. There’s so much to think about and do before you consider putting it on the market. How do you even get started?
Before you go posting pictures on all of your favorite home-buying sites or looking into how your sell your home for cash, why not take some time to prepare it so you can sell your home quickly?
Not sure how to prepare your home for sale? That’s okay. We’ve got you covered. Keep reading for our quick “preparing your home for sale checklist.”
Table of Contents
1. Work On Your Curb Appeal
You don’t need to renovate everything in your home before you sell. While minor renovations may improve the overall value of your home, major ones can end up being more expensive than they’re worth when it comes to negotiating with buyers.
One thing that you should change, though, is your curb appeal. Unless you’re going to be selling your house for cash, you need to attract buyers.
You want your home to look great from the moment that your potential buyers see it. This means that you’ll be making some adjustments to make your home pop from the sidewalk.
First, give your home a good pressure washing. You won’t realize how dirty your home and driveway are until you take a pressure washer to them. They’ll look as good as new after you’re done.
Then, consider a paint job. Make sure that any shutters look bright against the home, and consider some kind of statement door. Colorful doors are in and they’ll stand out against the boring doors in the rest of the neighborhood.
This is also a great time to fix up your lawn. Make sure that your yard is tidy and consider planting some nice flowers. These things make a huge difference and they’re inexpensive.
2. Fix Everything Up
How many things around the home have you been putting off? Does your sink drip? Are there chips in your paint? Do you have a leak somewhere that you haven’t attended to?
Even if you don’t mind these things for your own home, your potential buyers will notice them. Even if they take the home anyway, they may negotiate the price down even for minor problems. Don’t let this happen when most fixes are easy.
It might be a good idea to get someone to inspect your home before putting it on the market. Buyers often have an inspector come in as well, but if you do it ahead of time you won’t have to fix anything later.
This also means that you should make sure that your smoke alarm is in working order and that all lightbulbs should be replaced if they’ve burnt out. These are minor fixes that cost you next to nothing.
3. Declutter Everything
It’s time to declutter your home. Even if you choose not to change anything else about it, decluttering makes a huge difference and your buyers are more likely to be interested.
But why is that?
Even if your home is beautiful, clutter can make it look crowded and smaller than it is. It also makes a home look more “lived-in,” which seems good in theory but in practice, it doesn’t always work.
You might be blind to some of the clutter in your home. It’s a good idea to bring over friends to help you out so you don’t miss any cluttered corners that you’ve gotten too used to.
4. Make It Cleaner Than Ever
Now it’s time to make your home sparkle. Are you up to the challenge? Similar to the decluttering problem, you can guarantee that there are areas of your home that you’ve gone blind to.
Not just visually blind, but also nose blind.
When you’re nose blind to something, it means that you no longer recognize the smells in places that you’re used to. When you’re there all the time, you adapt and it just smells normal, or “like home.”
This isn’t always a bad thing. It’s possible that your home smells fresh like new linens, but there’s a greater chance that there are unpleasant smells lurking around.
Do you have pets or children? You can be sure that there are smells associated with them. Do you cook with a lot of onion and garlic? While that smell is wonderful in the kitchen, no one wants to encounter it when they’re shopping for a new home.
You also need to make everything sparkle. Floors should be clean. Move your furniture so you can see the clean spaces underneath and try to match them.
This is a big undertaking, so we suggest hiring a cleaning service to take care of it for you. They’ll get it done quickly and the cost will be nothing in comparison to the money you may get from the sale.
5. Depersonalize Everything
As we mentioned, the lived-in look can be fine, but you want that look to be accessible, almost artificial.
Remove photos of your family and any personal artwork from the walls. If there are treasured but tattered, stuffed animals in the children’s’ room, put them away.
It’s a good idea to rent a storage unit and place all of your loved furniture in there to replace it with rented furniture that looks cozy but minimal. You want potential buyers to see themselves in your home, so this furniture provides a blank slate.
Prepare Your Home for Sale With These Tips
When you’re trying to prepare your home for sale, these tips will save the day. You’ll have your home prepared in no time and you’ll have buyers rushing to make an offer.
Good luck with your home sale!
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