You, your neighbor, and your neighbor’s grandma are all trying to sell your homes. You want the next eager buyer to fancy their welcome mat on your door step, not on Miss Sally Next-door’s-with-20-different-rosebushes. How do you keep her charming cottage from taking your potential offers?
Staging. Now, you can either hire a real estate staging company for around $1,000 or you can take a few minutes to read this post and roll up your sleeves for some good old fashioned sweat equity.
It may be wrong, but they’re judging your book by its cover.
Mow your lawn, weed the garden, plant flowers, rake leaves, and do small repairs to the exterior of your home. It’s the same with dating, business, and real estate; you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. A potential buyer might pass if the yard looks like a natural disaster struck minutes before their arrival.
Uncle Norm’s bowling trophies.
Neutralize, depersonalize; it’s hard for a stranger to come into your home and imagine themselves there when your tchochkes (coolest word ever) are surrounding them. Neutral furnishings and décor makes it possible for buyers to really put themselves in the home and enables them to imagine where they’d put their own stuff.
But don’t shove pictures into drawers and cabinets! Buyers are going to open every drawer, every cupboard, every closet, everything there is to open will be under intense scrutiny. It’s recommended that you rent a storage unit to put personal belongings and nonessentials. Half empty closets give the impression of lots of storage space. It’s especially nice because part of your packing will already be done!
Mr. Clean is now your best friend.
Scour, scrub, rent a carpet cleaner, and power washer. Grimy bathroom walls and soap scum caked shower doors aren’t going to lend much favor when buyers come-a-callin’. You don’t want them to think your home is dirty. And don’t skimp on the details! Dust baseboards, wash windows (inside and out, this will bring in more light ergo making your home bright and more inviting), and freshen up the garbage disposal (Vinegar and lemon juice are both environmentally safe super cleaners, pour one or the other into the disposal, let it sit, turn on the hot water, and run the disposal!).
Don’t forget to put Fluffy, Fido, and Frank the Goldfish away too. Not everyone is an animal lover and it won’t endear them to your reasonably priced chateau if they can see or smell your pets.
You don’t have to be Picasso… In fact it’s probably better if you’re not.
If you’re a fan of canary yellow or fire engine red, you’ll need to repaint for the next buyers. A neutral color, a warm beige for instance, is a perfect canvas for the next owners. Before painting, fill in the nail holes where you took down all your family pictures, if you’re going to put up landscape scenes in your home, try using four penny nails since they leave small holes and are easily filled when you’re ready to vamoose. Really, a coat of paint can change the entire look of your home, making it look clean and fresh.
All your home’s a stage!
Focus on showing how functional your rooms are, part of that is making it obvious what each room is for. If you have a home gym slash home office, choosing one or the other to showcase will bring in more bucks than a room that multitasks. Your floor plan may not be open but the way you arrange your furniture can make it seem that way. This should be pretty easy if you followed the de-clutter and depersonalize step.
It may seem like we want to suffocate your creativity and personality, but the next buyer isn’t offering big bucks for your personality, they’re buying your house! And with these surefire steps, the offers will come pouring in.
Brittany, Receptionist Extraordinaire
Sources: hgtv.com, shine.yahoo.com, frugalfun.com
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