Preparing your house for
potential buyers is extremely important in getting your home to
sell. By following these 7 steps your home will sell faster.
Your home is not the only one a prospective buyer will look at so make it
inviting, clean and pleasant.
Step 1: The yard and
landscape
The yard should be nice and
neat. Here is a checklist to follow:
Trim shrubs or plant new ones if they are dead or dying
Clean oil off driveway and in garage (if present)
Keep the grass mowed
Keep the grass watered
Weed flowerbeds
Clean the yard (remove toys, tools, building supplies, etc.)
If
your home has no landscaping in the front yard it may lose value in the
mind of a buyer. Adding a few plants and or flowers can help sell
your home quickly. If the grass in the front yard is bare add some
grass seed. If there is no grass consider laying sod. Sod is
not cheap but if you spend $600 to sod the front yard and your home sells
a month faster than without it; and your house payment is $900 per month,
you would save $300, because your home sold faster.
You
probably do not need to sod the backyard.
Step
2: Exterior of the house
Paint
the house if it is fading or chipping. Choose a neutral color such
as white, cream, light gray or taupe. Model homes, priced
$20,000 to $50,000 more than your neighborhood, are a good place to go to
get an idea of what paint combinations to use. Always paint
the front door and door trim even if you do not need to paint the entire
house. Buyers stand at the front door waiting to get in; giving them
a good first impression does wonders.
Step 3: Interior of the
house (Remove unused items)
Pack anything you do not
need. Label the moving boxes and stack them neatly in the garage-
from floor to ceiling. Be sure to pack any collections and family
photos you have displayed. Your personal items do not allow for the
potential buyer to mentally picture their things in the home. You
want to create the perception of roominess. Don't forget about
inside the closets and cabinets too. People do look inside. If
you can't remove something at least make it nice and neat.
Clothes
Closets: Remove out-of-season clothes. Arrange your shoes neatly. Hang
your clothes by category: all shirts together, all pants together, all
dresses together, etc.
Remove
extra furniture; chairs, side tables, a sofa that is too big for the
room. Did you know decorators use small pieces of furniture?
Keep the
model homes in mind. What do they have laying around?
Look at
it this way; you are going to be moving anyway, so just consider this
advance packing and less stress later on.
Step 4: Repair the inside
of the house
Here is a checklist to
follow:
Paint if needed. Off-white paint is best.
Correct faulty plumbing
Repair badly cracked plaster
Repair
loose doorknobs
Repair
crooked light fixtures
Repair or replace door stops
Repair screen door
Repair doors and windows. They should open and close easily.
Step 5: Clean the inside
of the house
You can do this yourself or
hire a professional to do it for you. Here is a checklist to follow:
Have a professional shampoo the carpets
Wipe down the walls and doors
remove finger smudges on woodwork with kerosene
Clean wood paneling with a mixture of 1tsp turpentine, 3tbs. of
olive oil and 1 qt. of warm water. Wipe dry.
Remove mineral stains from porcelain, (the greenish colored
stains), pour hydrogen peroxide on the stain, then sprinkle with cream of
tarter. Leave on for 30 minutes before scrubbing. Bad stains may require 2
or 3 applications.
Clean the fireplace
Clean windows inside and out
Clean curtains, blinds and/or drapes
Clean appliances inside and out. Undiluted vinegar works well to
remove grease. Use baking soda on the inside of the refrigerator, it
does not scratch and it removes odors.
Clean the tile grout and recaulk if necessary.
Clean fixtures
Remove cigarette odor. Use scented candles, fragrant fresh flowers,
or air freshener spray. Another option is Ozium,
a commercial preparation to remove odors from the air rather than
mask them.
Step
6: Keep
pets out of sight and out of smell
Get rid
of pet odors. It is recommended that the pets themselves be kept out
of the way and out of the house during showings. Some people are
uneasy around animals and they may keep the potential buyer from paying
attention to the house.
If
flooring has been repeatedly soiled, you’ll more than likely have to
replace it to get rid of the smell. That includes the carpet and the
pad. The sub flooring will need to be treated to kill the odor.
Putting a small uncovered dish of vinegar in the room where your pet
sleeps will help remove the pet odor.
To absorb odors in the cat
litter box, add a cup of baking soda to the litter. Remove the
litter box from the shower or tub. To people who are not fond of
cats, you have just made your shower or tub mentally off-limits.
Step 7: Clean the garage
The garage is usually where
things go when you don't know where to put them. If your storage
area is neat then people will assume that you must take very good care of
the whole house.
