When you decide to move and put your home up for sale, you want it to sell fast, and for your ideal amount. You can definitely achieve this goal, but it will take some planning and hard work. One of the best ways to make sure your home sells as quickly as possible is to entice potential home buyers to view your house as desirable.
How to make your house irresistible to all those who view it? Spruce it up! Everyone knows that a professionally staged home has a better chance of selling quickly, and at the seller’s price range. However, not everyone can take that route. If a professional home stager just isn’t in the cards, there’s no need to worry. We’ve put together some tips on how to prepare your house for a quick and easy sale.
Get Rid of that Clutter
Al those little tchotkes and knicknacks you’ve been collecting over the years have to go. We’re not saying get rid of them (although if you’re getting ready to move, now would be a great time to start downsizing, if only to make the packing process easier on you). Make sure to box up and put away all those little items that clutter up the place. You want your home to look spacious and wide open. A collection of porcelain horse figurines on every windowsill only makes your home look too busy and cluttered.
Arrange Closets
You remember those cartoons where someone opens a closet door and an entire home’s worth of junk comes falling out? You definitely do not want that to happen when a prospective home buyer comes around! They’re going to want to inspect every nook and cranny of your home, even the closets. Hang everything up on hangers. Consider getting a shoe rack and line them up with the toes facing forward. If you can, downsize and limit the pieces of clothing you keep in there. The less clothing inside a closet, the bigger the closet will look. And if there’s one thing everyone always wants in a new home, it’s bigger closets!
Rent a Storage Unit
This might sound like overkill, but too much furniture makes a place look small and cramped. Grandma’s precious antique rocking chair, that large over-sized armchair and all those comfy footstools may make your home more pleasant to live in, but it doesn’t do anything to make it look more spacious. The less furniture, the larger a room looks. If you have a storage unit, you can put all the extra furniture in there until the house has been sold.
Repair Minor Damage
You want your house to look its best. Replace burnt out light bulbs, patch up any holes in the walls, fill in or replace cracked tiles, etc. Every little bit helps when it comes to impressing a potential buyer for your home.
Clean. Everything.
Pretty simple. No one wants to buy a messy, dirty home, do they? Time for some belated spring cleaning!
De-personalize
When viewing a home, a potential buyer will always try to imagine themselves living there. “That’s where I’ll put my bookcase,” and “here’s where I’ll hang my paintings.” It’s hard for them to envision making the place their own if your personal items are all over the place. Remove any family photos, heirlooms or other precious keepsakes and store them away until the house has been sold. You’ll need to pack them up for the move anyway. Why not get a head start?
Once you’ve taken care of these basics, you should start seeing a lot more interest in your home. Who knows? You might even get caught in the middle of a bidding war and sell your home for higher than the asking price. Taking a little bit of time to prepare your home for a sale is not only a great way to sell your home in record time – it’s also great for your wallet!
