By Diane Eddy-Low
Selling your home can be hard for anyone to wrap their mind around. All of the ins and outs?of the process, finding your new home, moving, gulp and the list goes on and on. The best?thing you can do is to hire professionals to help guide you through the process and give you?all the information that you need to make the best decision for you and your family?s future.
The first item, when you decide to sell, is that your home is no longer your home. It has now?become a property or an asset that you need to liquidate. All of the work you have done?to make it yours, surprisingly, may now become a hindrance in the selling process. Do not?take it as a personal insult when a Buyer comes through and hates all the faux painting that?you spent hours on or the forest green carpet that you dearly love. Separate yourself from?the ?Home? mentality to the ?Asset? mentality and you will save yourself a whole lot of?frustration later.
When selling a property it?s kind of like a romance. You have to set the mood and show?off your best side and minimize the areas that need some work! For this you can hire a?professional or try the following 15 easy steps to ?Setting the stage to sold?.
1. Clear out the clutter. All buyers like open, spacious looking rooms even if they are?not so spacious when looking at a tape measure. So clear out your stuff to achieve the?illusion of space. Put the extra furniture you don?t need but want to keep into storage,?(maybe in Grandmas basement) sell or donate it. Take down those adorable family?photos and the kids favorite posters, pack up the knickknacks and make the fridge clear?of all artwork and things to do lists! It is especially important to keep all hallways and?doorways clear of clutter. Remember, you want the buyer to envision their possessions?in their future home not be overwhelmed by all of your stuff!
2. Use counter intelligence. Let those counters shine through! Go and clean off all of the?counters in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. Put the counter appliances away,?throw out any old magazines you have sitting around, read and sort through your stack?of mail, buyers do not need to see all of that. You want the property to convey the look?of lots of counter space not the fact that you use such and such laundry detergent and?you?re late paying your electric bill.
3. Be a Bloodhound. A home should smell good but not of the latest new air freshener?scent. We become immune to the smells in our homes so I suggest having a friend come?over to be the Bloodhound and point out the odors that need to be eliminated. This is?the friend who is not too afraid of offending you but will be honest in what he or she?truly sniffs! The top three odor issues within a home are usually cooking odors, pet odor?and smoking. You should not try and mask the odor causing sources within the property?but go to the source and get rid of it. We will touch more on this one later.
4. Illuminate. A dark home is hard to sell. Clean all of those light fixtures and in very dark?rooms like bathrooms with no windows I suggest replacing existing light bulbs with GE?Reveal bulbs. Yes, I know they are not as energy efficient but they give off a beautiful,?bright, full spectrum lumen that is so much brighter than standard energy efficient light?bulbs. When buyers come to view your property turn all those clean, sparkly lights on!
5. Keep it clean. Buyers perceive a clean house to a home that has been taken better care?of. Clean everything?.baseboards, molding, air vents, interior and exterior doors and?door frames, cabinets, walls, tile, carpets, ceiling fans, windows, flooring, kitchens (yes,?I mean the stove burners and oven, microwave and fridge especially) and bathrooms.?Replace furnace and air intake filters, fix that drippy faucet, caulk and patch all of those?nail holes then re-paint. Repair all those items that you haven?t gotten around to and?that, if you where a buyer, you would want to see maintained on the home you are buying. Better yet, be pro-active and get a home inspection. Don?t forget to clean out?and organize the garage and basement! The most important item in this section is to?keep it clean and neat for every showing! Some of my favorite products are: For walls?and plastic items like door handles on the fridge use a magic eraser, amazing. Use?Murphy?s Oil Soap to clean the cabinets then use Old English scratch cover on all of your?non painted cabinet surfaces. It is available for light or dark wood and will make most?cabinets look almost like new. Goof off and simple green are your friends!?Avoid offence. The last thing a seller needs is to go to all of the work to make your?property shine above all other properties and the buyer takes offence to something you?didn?t think about putting away and there goes an opportunity out the front door. Take?the trophy deer heads off the wall and pack them, make sure there are no provocative?or controversial items or magazines laying around, religious or spiritual items should be?minimized or packed. In the master bedroom, well, let?s just say, make sure nothing is?left out that could cause great embarrassment to all parties who witness them. (Blush)?Clean out closets. Go through all of the closets and cabinets in the property. If you?are not using it pack it up or get rid of it. Buyers do look and partially empty closets and?cabinets look roomy and space sells. Under the cabinets that have had a leaky faucet I?suggest making sure the leak is fixed then lining the water damaged cabinet floor with a?scrap piece of linoleum or vinyl shelf paper.?Embrace the White. Bright, beautiful wall colors are so in and you love the colors you?lovingly painted each wall in your home. Well, it will soon not be your home anymore?it will be someone else?s and they may not like what you loved. Paint is a relatively?inexpensive way to make a house look clean and fresh. If you are going to do some?interior repainting prior to selling, keep it light and neutral. Lighter colors reflect light?and will make rooms look brighter and larger.
Is that a carpet stain? Take a close look at all of the carpet in your house after you?have had it cleaned. If those stains won?t come out and it still looks dirty, soiled or?stained, replace the carpet with something neutral or consider wood or laminates as?alternatives. Buyers love the words ?newer flooring?!
Keep it safe. Now that you will have buyers in and out of your house consider keeping?your fine jewelry and Grandpas pocket watch in a safety deposit box not in your?jewelry armoire in the bedroom. Lock up the guns and anything that you value. Remove?prescription drugs from your cabinets as you do not want these items to walk off?either. I suggest hiding them in a shoe box in the closet or in a food box in the pantry.?No matter how diligent we Realtors are when showing a property things can and do?happen. So be smart and keep it safe!
Peel the peeling wallpaper. If your wallpaper is pealing, especially in the bathrooms,?remove it if you can?t fix it with a few drops of wallpaper paste. I suggest to then paint?the walls in a neutral color that goes well with the bathroom tile.
Ditch the cigarettes. Having a smoker in the house while trying to sell will eliminate?many potential buyers. More and more buyers these days will not even look at a house?that has been repeatedly smoked in. So, move the smoking outside and if the property?s?interior is yellowed by smoking you have no choice but to scrub everything down walls?and ceiling, shampoo the carpet and you may be forced to paint even if the interior?paint is in good condition.
Set your house apart. You want your property to stand out over the competition. This?is made more difficult by homes in communities where there are many other similar?floor plans available in the neighborhood. Try turning on soothing music while the?house is being shown, a fresh bouquet of flowers on a table or counter, again turn all?of the lights on, set out small little signs highlighting some of your favorite features of?the home. Do something that will make the buyer remember your property in a positive?light!
14. We love our pets. We love our animal family members but not everyone feels the same?way. Barking dogs whether aggressive or not can be a big turnoff for some buyers when?viewing property. If you can, take the babies out for a walk when the property is being?sold. Put Fluffy the cat in a pen during a showing instead of closing her in a room with?a note on the door that says do not open and let cat out. I know these can?t always be?done but it is something to think about.
15. Flower power. If you are selling during the warm weather season, get that lawn?looking great and plant those flowers! You only get one chance to make a great first?impression when a buyer drives up and sees your property for the first time. A beautiful?lawn with gorgeous flowers can be well worth the expense to help with curb appeal.?It makes a property ?feel? brighter, softer, more welcoming and to stand out in the?neighborhood. Besides what is Romance with some flowers!?Don?t let this process overwhelm you, do what you can within your budget. Also remember to?not go overboard every time your property is shown. Your goal is to make your property shine?and the buyers saying to themselves ?yes I could live here?!
Diane Eddy-Low is a licensed Realtor with Hermann London Group in Maplewood, Missouri. She has been selling real estate for over 11 years and has a fine arts and interior design background. She can be reached at 314-602-7174 or Diane@HermnnLondon.com
Source: http://www.hermannlondon.com/blog/setting-the-stage-for-sold/
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