Selling a house is  a daunting task, just ask your friends and family who have sold their house(s) in the past few years. However, guidance of a professional can help enormously and make the process of selling a home, a walk in the park!

What can you do to prepare your home for sale?

DECLUTTER

Decluttering can be daunting; after all, you’re still living in your house. You might need your stuff! Decluttering is not converting your house to a showhome, it is selectively pruning anything that distracts buyers from seeing what they are getting with your house. For example, do you really need a juicer in the kitchen that is taking up half the counter space when you haven’t juiced in the last 6 months? The easiest way to declutter is to go room by room and remove any items that you haven’t used in the past few months, which will likely be 75% of the items. Let’s be honest, stuff takes up space and space is highly desirable! You want buyers to see ton of space when they walk into your home, so they can envision their own furniture and items in the house. You can definitely hire someone to declutter but at the end of the day, you will have to be involved in the process to instruct what to declutter, so it is just easier to do it yourself.

SMALL FIXES

It is time to do those small fixes that you have managed to ignore successfully the entire time you were living in your home. You know what I am talking about, that cabinet handle that broke 2 years ago, maybe the hole in the drywall that magically appeared one day or a door handle that will likely come off the minute you touch it. It is time to utilize the tools in the garage and get to work! The reality is when we are living in a house, we get accustomed to the things the way they are but a fresh eye notices lot of details and a buyer will pick up on all the unfinished details and likely ask for a price reduction or worst, bypass the house altogether.

DEEP CLEAN

After decluttering and small fixes, it is time for a deep clean. I personally don’t like cleaning, so I would definitely hire someone to do it but if you love cleaning, it is time to roll up your sleeves! The idea is to remove those stubborn stains that you have given up and honestly forgotten about, remove spider webs from the corners of your house you never seem to visit, remove dust bunnies from pretty much everywhere and lot of other fun stuff! You will be surprised at how much dust your home collects even when you clean it often enough. There are lot of helpful checklists online that cover A to Z of deep cleaning your home or just hire someone! My cleaner charges about $85 to $150 depending on the sq. ft of the home, which is really good!

DEPERSONALIZE 

I find this step to be the most difficult for many sellers. Let’s be honest, we all think we have the greatest taste in design and a unique eye for color, however majority of people around us might beg to differ. Have you ever wondered, why all the show homes and staged homes look the same? Well, there is a reason for it and that is, most people don’t consciously think about what they are thinking or what kind of thoughts are in their head, they are subconsciously just observing the world. Over many decades, internal designers and stagers have figured out what people find aesthetically appealing and what color combinations elicit a desired response. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, you have to remember, it is not your home anymore, it is a house that you have to sell, so you can move into another home of your dreams. Depersonalize your home to remove any personal items such as family pictures, unique decor and items that might not be appealing to the majority of the population.

When we list homes, we tell sellers exactly what to do before putting it on the market. Are you ready to put your house on the market next year? Call for a complimentary pre-listing consultation.