Tips for preparing your home to sell
- This is about making your home marketable. With every dollar you put in, you may not see a return on that investment. So if the house needs new windows, maybe a quick calking and painting will be enough. The point of this list is to make your current house more appealing and sell quicker than similar properties in your area.
- Remember, this is all about making your property stand out from similar properties. You have to make it more appealing to the next owner. Curb appeal and cleanliness will get you there.
- Start a list of the things that you like and don’t like in your existing home. This will help you target your next new home and make it easier to sell your existing property by minimizing your attachment. This is a real thing.
- Start prepping your house for sale 1 year away
- Paint the exterior
- Landscape
- Purge items that you don’t use anymore. A good tip is that if you haven’t used an item in the last 6 months (except for seasonal items), then you’re not going to use it. So get rid of it. There will be less things for you to store and move when you do sell. And your house will look less cluttered.
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- Fix all minor repairs
- Refinish hardwood floors. Do this after painting.
- Clean the entire house. That means removing everything from a room and scrubbing it clean, including walls, windows, and ceiling.
- Purge again. This is a great opportunity to truly review what you have and what you need. Get rid of the excess.
- Paint the interior of the house one room every other week. If you try to do too much, too fast, then you’ll just end up frustrated and you’ll stop.
- Replace worn carpeting
- Clean, repair or replace screens
- Oil hinges on doors and cabinets
- Replace or fix any appliances. You don’t need top of the line appliances. Your house will have the same value if your refrigerator is $500 or $1,500.
- Purge some more
- Purge your kitchen cabinets and drawers. You don’t need to have the extra food as you’ll be moving soon. Remember, less clutter means more cabinet space. So use the extra food, and box up the less frequently used utensils and gadgets.
- Clean the grout in your bathrooms and kitchen. Home Depot sells grout cleaning products.
- Clean your gutters and attic spaces.
- Donate clothing, coats and shoes you no longer need. Prospective buyers like closet space. Make your closets look bigger by not having a lot of clutter and unused clothing in them.
- Put away any personal items, such as pictures
- Put away any items of value in a safe and secure place
- Remove the clutter
- Clean the oven
- Clean behind and under all the appliances
- Replace all filters for water, furnace, etc.
- Power wash your walkway, patios, grills, outdoor steps, etc.
- Plant flowers (but don’t break the bank) and weed the garden
- Maintain your clean home
- Clean, clean, clean
The day before a showing…
- Cut the grass, even if you just did it a few days ago
- Clean the driveway with a leaf blower
- Clean the bathroom
- Bake some cookies. It will make the house smell warm and inviting. (Keep raw cookie dough in the fridge at all times. If it goes bad, who cares. Just get more.)
- Turn all the lights on. It will make it look airy and bright.
- Vacuum
- Clean and wipe all countertops and tables
- Fresh tablecloths or runners on the tables
- Fresh bowl of fruit always looks inviting and lively
- Fresh cut flowers in a vase is always attractive
- Make sure the kitchen is spotless and free of clutter
When listing your house for sale, a prospective buyer will try and negotiate the price of the house. To make it seem like you're a motivated seller and a way to minimize lowering your price is to offer a “Seller’s Concession”. This is you offering to pay for a part of the buyer's closing costs. This will make them feel like they’re getting something from you without you having to lower your sales price so much. Usually a seller’s concession is 2 - 6% of the sales price. Start with 2%, but make it a nice round number. Example, if the sales price is $425,000, instead of saying you’ll offer 2% ($8,500), just make it an even $8,000 or $9,000. Yes, this does reduce your profit on the sale, but it’s usually better than reducing your sales price to $415,000 or lower.
And my last and final suggestion is that you shouldn’t have more than 2 rusted cars/trucks in your front yard. Anything more than 2 and it just looks tacky.