If I just have 10 seconds of your time, here’s the only thing you need to know:
Look ∙ Feel ∙ Smell ∙ Clean
The best things you can do to sell your home quickly and for the best price are all free. As your Realtor, all I need from you is for your home to look, feel and smell clean to do my job.
A few years ago I might have suggested a new coat of paint or removing old wall paper. Now the rules have changed. With the high number of motivated buyers in the market, you can sell your home quickly – at the price you want – without spending any money for remodeling.
After showing hundreds (thousands?) of houses, here are some ideas I can guarantee will work for you in this market.
1. Curb Appeal
A potential home buyer will immediately make a judgement when they walk up to the porch. Pulling weeds in your landscape beds and brushing out the cobwebs under the porch overhang will go a long way to the anticipation of what’s inside. If you’ve got blooming flower baskets around the yard, put one or two on the porch near the door.
2. Basement
I call the basement the deal maker – or the deal breaker.
How do I know?
Most buyers make the decision about whether to buy a house while standing in the basement. This is especially true for men, who consider the basement & mechanicals one of the most important rooms in the house.
It doesn’t matter if your basement is finished or not. What matters is that it is clean, bright and smells good. You need to:
- Wipe down all the HVAC equipment and eliminate the cobwebs
- Sweep or hose down the floor
- Make sure all the lights work
Put in a new furnace filter while you are at it!
3. Kitchen
While men care about the basement, women care about the kitchen. They want to see a clean kitchen with lots of counter space. Here’s what you need to do:
- Anything on your counter tops that are not used daily should be removed. All surfaces in the kitchen should be spot and dust free.
- Clean the floors. Make sure you get into all the corners and under the baseboards.
- While buyers won’t go through your cupboards, they will open pantry or kitchen closet doors. Make sure they are clean and tidy inside.
Take all the magnets off your fridge too!
4. Bathrooms
The same suggestions for kitchens goes for bathrooms too. Clean off the counter tops. Clean the toilet, bathtub/shower and mirrors. Mop the floor.
5. Closets
If you haven’t worn or used something in a year, donate it or throw it away. Closet space is a highly sought after feature. Time spent thinning your clothes/shoes will pay off in spades.
6. Make you house a home
Buyers use all 5 of their senses during a showing. To turn your house into a home they can imagine living in, you need to appeal to all of them. For example:
- Turn all the lights on, even during the day
- Open the curtains. If the weather is nice, open the windows
- Have soft music playing in the background
- Place a vase of fresh flowers on the kitchen table or bake some cookies in the oven for the pleasant smell
If you don’t have time
While all the tips above are free, if you don’t have the time to do them I can help. I have cleaners, landscapers and virtually any kind of home maintenance professionals on call we can schedule to do the work for you.
If you can make your house look clean, smell clean and feel like a home it will sell with ease.
Contact me today and I can help you get started selling your home.