If you are thinking about putting your home on the market, the process of emotional detachment is important when preparing to sell your home. Understandably, it’s very difficult but necessary to begin looking at your home as a product you are selling. Now is not the time for homeowners to become sentimental about their home and belongings. Rather, it’s the time to turn your home into a model home, free of personal effects and that homey feel so personal to you and yours. Sellers can prepare their house to sell quickly, with less stress and for more money, when they take into account the following tips to sell your home.
Think of your Home as a House
You and your family will have to come to some realization that you will soon be moving out of your home and onto a new adventure. Be sure to talk to all family members about this process. Have a conversation about how you will be showing your home to strangers that will be coming though. Talk about what will happen once you sell your home. Furthermore, start making plans for the next home and location, start referring to this location as your house and when we move we will have a new home. Remember to keep children well informed along the way throughout this process, it is a very confusing time for them. Finally, don’t forget the four-legged members of the household, be sure to make arrangements for these special family members during every showing.
De-Personalize
- Take down all personal photos
- Get rid of/put away all knick-knacks
- Remove personalized door mats, towels, and monograms
- Take down kids’ drawings on fridge
The key is to turn your home into  the buyer’s. They want to see their potential new home as a blank slate in which they can picture their own family. Whereas, if a buyer walks into a home and sees a large family photo of someone else’s family above the mantle, it’s difficult to imagine themselves in the home. So, if you take it down, buyers are able to see their own family photo above the mantle, kids opening presents Christmas morning in front of the picture window, and doing their homework sitting at the island.
De-Clutter!
If a home is filled wall to wall with stuff, buyers aren’t getting the correct picture of the home in mind. When preparing your home to sell, clean, simple, and minimal is what buyers want to see. This makes it much easier for them to picture how they would arrange their own home. Most of all, it’s also going to make packing to move much easier for you if you spend a day or two prior to listing your house de-cluttering.
- Donate items in good condition (also! seller bonus because you get a tax break on donations!)
- Throw away items in poor condition
- Pack non-essential items you don’t need for daily living, such as books, additional linens, and other knick-knacks
- Rent a storage unit if need be. Most people have more furniture than is needed in each room
- Have a garage sale. This is a great way to unload unwanted items and a way to get the word out to the neighborhood that you are selling. Many times your neighbor knows of a potential buyer to send your way
- If you must store at the house use a corner of the garage and keep it as tight and compact as you can. The more you add to a room the smaller it looks and you don’t want to turn your large garage into a small one by packing it with too much stuff.
Rearrange Bedroom Closets and Kitchen Cabinets
Storage is one of the main reasons buyers choose homes. People want space for their belongings, whether it’s sporting equipment, holiday decor or other keepsakes. In addition, clean closets and storage spaces help the buyers to see that you take stellar care of your home.
- Clean out closets and organize hanging items by type and color
- Organize shoes in a nice clean line, not piled up and mismatched
- Pack all extra items and leave only enough for the family
- Go through the pantry, odds are there are extra canned goods you don’t need, so, why not donate them to the local food shelter?
Sell Your Home, Rent a Storage Unit
You might love that oversized armchair you’ve had for years, but buyers probably won’t feel the same sentimental attachment. In such a manner, a storage unit is one of the best things a homeowner can provide themselves when selling. Minimize furniture in each room to present it as large and open as possible by placing additional, oversized and mismatched pieces in storage. The boxes you’ve packed don’t belong in the closets or attic, they’d do better in storage. This is a small investment in a successful process to sell your home.
Remove/Replace Favorite Items
Sellers sometimes fall in love with specific items, for example, a special rose bushe or Mom’s chandelier they want to take with them. Therefore, if you want to take those items with you, now is the time to remove them and replace them with something else. Attached items are assumed to stay with the transfer of the home. Consequently, if you’re selling and have something in the house you absolutely will not negotiate for any reason, remove it prior to listing. You never know,  the antique hutch in the dining room not being for sale might deter an unhappy buyer.
Make Minor Repairs
Details can make the biggest difference in preparing your home. to sell. Buyers want to see a house in perfect condition. Even a small flaw in the house can cause a buyer to assume that a seller who can’t handle something so minor probably didn’t take very good care of the bigger household items. No doubt, this can cause them to think twice about purchasing a home.
- Repair leaking faucets
- Repaint rooms with paint flaws or bold colors
- Repair holes, cracks, or imperfections in the walls
- Make sure all light bulbs work
- Handle any squeaking doors or drawers
- Pressure wash the walkway, driveway, house
- Have a professional carpet cleaner tackle any tough stains
Make the House Sparkle!
- Clean the floors
- Shampoo carpets
- Clean the baseboards
- Dust the ceiling fans
- Sweep and declutter the front porch
- Clean the front door
- Clean the attic
- Don’t allow anything to become dusty
- Keep the sink free of dishes
- Shine the windows
- Clean the bathrooms
- Scrub the grout from the shower
- Clean interior and exterior of all appliances
- Hide evidence of pets (litter boxes, beds, toys)
The investment of a professional cleaning service is always a wise idea when you’re preparing to sell your home. Consequently, the cleaner the home, the more appealing it becomes to buyers.
In conclusion, it’s often the simplest, least expensive things that make it possible to sell your home faster and for more money. For example, invest in a bouquet of fresh, fragrant flowers on the dining room table, and be sure the lawn is always neatly trimmed. When you walk through your home from the shoes of a potential buyer, what do you see and love? If something bothers you, fix it. If something stands out, play it up. It’s as easy as putting on your buyer’s hat long enough to make some changes.
