Your Goal: Selling Your Home Fast While Increasing Your Chances of Receiving a Solid Offer. How Do You Prepare?
So, you’re planning a move and getting your home ready to sell. Every seller dreams of selling their home fast and receiving the best offer. Fortunately, there are ways to increase your chances of hitting both of those goals by following some tried and true strategies for getting your home in its best light before you put it on the market. A welcoming and clean home invites in buyers and will increase your chances of getting an offer so you can happily close that chapter and make your move. Work through these strategies to get your home to sell quickly and reduce excess worries during the real estate process.
Getting Your Home Ready To Sell
Clean & Declutter Many homeowners do not realize how many things they have accumulated over a lifetime in a house. Decluttering is the first step toward moving and listing a home for sale. Sort items into piles of things to keep, things to donate, and things to give away or sell. Remove at least one third of your stuff – put it in storage. Once the clutter is out of the way, you can clean every room.
Think About Renting a Storage Unit Decluttering will help your home show better and sell quicker but you need to do something with the stuff you still want to keep. No use in putting it in the basement, closet or garage cause potential buyers will be viewing these areas and you'll want to keep them neat like the rest of your house. Consider renting a storage unit to temporarily house your excess furniture and decor. Your goal is to have enough furniture to make the home feel livable but allow for potential buyers to completely envision themselves in the space, free of distraction.
Depersonalize Your Home
When selling your home, one of the most important things to do is to depersonalize. Hide family photos and sentimental knick-knacks. These items can distract potential buyers by making them wonder about your family. You want to create a balance of making your home appear inviting and lived in yet not overwhelming your potential buyers with personal touches you’ve added to the space. Remember, they’re a completely different person with different tastes. Depersonalizing will allow a buyer to better explore and envision themselves in your home and lead to your home selling quicker.
Wash the Windows & Ditch the Heavy drapes Natural light is a top desired quality in a home, so make sure to show yours off. Remove heavy drapery from your windows. Clean the windows, change the lampshades, increase the wattage of your light bulbs and cut the bushes outside to let in sunshine. Do what you can to make your house light and bright, this will make it more sellable.
Create a Welcoming Entry You can't recreate that first impression potential buyers have of your home. But you can make sure it's a positive impression with a little curb appeal. Trim overgrown bushes and trees so the yard looks kept up. Repaint your porch or shutters if the paint is peeling. Put out a fresh welcome mat, add a pot of cheery flowers, sweep the porch and walkway, and do basic landscaping to make your home look welcoming and tidy on the first approach.
Repaint If your home is showing its age, it's amazing what a clean coat of paint can do. Have the walls and trim repainted white, so potential buyers can imagine the rooms in their favorite colors. At the very least, wash walls to remove dust, dirt, and stains.
Keep Storage Areas Organized Rooms may be de-cluttered, but your closets, garage or basement are brimming with stored stuff. Storage is something every buyer is looking for and can never have enough of. Remove half the stuff out of your closets and then neatly organize what remains. Keep your storage areas tidy and organized to maintain that positive impression. Buyers will check these areas and may feel your home lacks adequate storage if they find a mess.
You’ve Prepared Your Home to Sell as Best You Can, Keep It That Way! Once you've done all these things, you can list the house for sale. While it's on the market, you must maintain neatness and be prepared to show at all times. Always keep your home show ready. Don’t leave dishes in the sink, keep the dishwasher cleaned out, the bathrooms sparkling and fresh, and make sure there are no dust bunnies in the corners. This extra attention to detail may be irritating, but rest assured that it will help your home sell quickly.
Ready to Sell Your Home Whether you are trying to sell your home yourself or working with a realtor, these strategies will position your home to drive interest, sell quickly, and command top dollar.
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