Selling your home Tuesday

Today’s subject is how to prepare your house to sell.

If you are thinking of selling your house, there are a few things you need to do before you even call a realtor.  The housing market is the worst it has been in a long time. It’s neither good for the buyer nor the seller, as the job market is ailing as well. However, the scales are tipped in favor of the buyer. For the few people who can afford to buy a house, they have their pick of houses that is theirs practically for the taking so why wouldn’t a seller do everything humanly possible to get the most out of their house in the shortest time possible?

Before we start going over our list, you should know most prospective buyers cannot see a house for its potential.  They need you to present them with a move in ready, beautiful home and in order to do that you must appeal to the masses, which means neutral, neutral, neutral.

For the few who have the ability to walk into your house and see it for its possibilities, you still need to present them with a move in ready beautiful home. Don’t give them a valid reason to make an offer that reflects all the cleaning and updating they will need to do.

What you need to do:

1.       Clean the house. Don’t just pick up. Give it a deep cleaning. Clean the carpets, wash the windows, including sills and sashes. Move furniture and clean under it and while you’re at it clean the upholstery and draperies, they trap odors. (If you are a smoker, smoke outside after you clean or it will be for nothing.)

2.       Dust all the furniture, ceiling fans, blinds and light fixtures….don’t forget the books.

3.       Clean the bathrooms until the fixtures shine. What could be more revolting than the thought of buying a home with a filthy bathroom?

4.       De-clutter.  Clear off your counter tops, bookshelves and table tops leaving nothing but a few tasteful accessories.  Lose the paperbacks and overflow of books on shelves.

5.       Pack up all the clutter that you are eliminating and store it elsewhere, even if you have to rent storage.  You don’t want to give the impression that there isn’t enough closet space

6.       Take toys out of the living areas. Prospective buyers need to see clearly defined spaces. Toys in a living room, dining room or family room sends a very confusing message as to what room it really is but sends a clear message as to how the house may have been kept.

7.       Clean out closets and cupboards. Again pack up and store any overflow of items.

8.       Assign home office spaces to extra bedrooms or clearly defined cubbies. Having a home office in the dining room, living room, master bedroom or kitchen does not define the space and looks cluttered.

9.       It is better to have too few wall hangings than too many. If you have several in a space you are making the room seem smaller than it is by eliminating wall space. Pack up personal photos and belongings and save them for your next home.  Prospective buyers will have a hard time viewing the house as their own with your pictures displayed.

10.   I always baked cookies before an open house to make it smell like home.

11.   This seems like the kind of thing one would think wouldn’t have to be mentioned but believe it or not I have actually viewed homes with dirty dishes in the sink. For heaven’s sake…….wash the dishes and leave the dishwasher empty. It wouldn’t hurt to run a quick cycle empty to ensure the dishwasher is clean and smelling fresh.

12.   Go outside and stand at the end of the driveway and look at the house as you would see it if you were going there to view it. How does it look? Does it have curb appeal? How is the porch furniture? In good repair? What about the mailbox? The landscaping, is it trimmed? And the condition of the front door itself?

If this all is just a little too overwhelming for you to take on there are people like me who do this for a living. Hire a professional if you can’t do it yourself. Chances are you will lose more in low offers with a cluttered, undefined space than you would putting out the money to have it done, especially since most of what you are paying the professional goes right back into your home anyway. It’s a good investment.

It’s going to be difficult enough to sell your home with the housing market as it is so why not do everything you can to give yourself the edge.

Be sure to visit my website at www.reutershomedesigns.com for more information on staging your home.  Come back next week when we will be discussing over investing in your home.