You’ve put a FOR SALE sign in your front yard want to start showing it to prospective buyers. Here’s a tip or two to help it look its best.
Home Staging your clutter
You may already know the importance of clearing out clutter. That can’t be stressed enough. It is one of the most important parts of making your home appealing to buyers, for two reasons. Firstly, not just papers and dishes, clutter includes decorations and furniture too. Too much of it can block a person’s view of the house itself. If everywhere they look they see junk, the buyer doesn’t see your home. It is important that they have a clear view, or they may not want to buy. Secondly, all that clutter screams your personality. This is not what a buyer wants to see. When someone is looking at a home, what they need to do in order to be motivated to buy is to imagine themselves living in that home. If the house is so filled with the current owner, a potential buyer can’t get past that, and make that mental leap to seeing themselves in the home.
Because of this, some sellers choose to box up a lot of their personal goods and put them in a storage facility. This gets it right out of the house, so even the boxes aren’t clogging up the spare rooms and closets, which are important selling features.
Home staging your doors and cabinets
It is also important to fix things around the home. Keep in mind how the doors around your home work, will be noticed by the buyers as they will almost always open closets and cabinets. If the doors are sticky or squeak, that gives a bad first impression. Obviously, your front door is the first candidate for a good hinge-oiling.
Brighten things up
While you certainly don’t want to enter into major renovations, a new coat of paint can really brighten up a home and sometimes make it more appealing. Look at both the outside and inside of your home. And as tempting as it is to choose trendy colors, or effects you are personally attracted to, neutral tones are best. White or off-white are your safest bets. They will help a home appear bright, and give a new owner a good base if they wish to paint the home more uniquely.
Speaking of a bright home, be sure to leave all the lights on when your home is being shown. Open all the curtains, too, so that viewers feel that your home is bright and welcoming, and they can see clearly. Dusting every surface also helps your home look brighter.
Even the smell
Consider smell, an important sense that impacts our first impressions. Do a thorough cleaning, especially if you have pets or if you smoke indoors. Open the windows and air the home out a bit. You may wish to install some air fresheners, but be sure not to choose one that is overwhelming, as more and more people have sensitivities to various scents these days.
Click HERE if you would like an expanded PDF checklist for staging your home.
Good luck with showing and selling your home!
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Broker Don Martin, founder and CEO of Martin Properties, besides helping hundreds of FSBOs save thousands of dollars, also delivers seminars, keynotes and motivational messages to real estate and sales professionals. His 30+ years of experience in sales, marketing, real estate, promotion, management and technology has empowered thousands to expand their knowledge and achieve their goals. Connect with Martin Properties on Facebook, TheReasonableRealtor.com, MLS-TODAY.com or Amazon.com.
