When you’re selling your home, it’s important that it looks good. The way buyers see your home is the first impression they will have of you and how well you can care for things. If your home is messy, that means that you’re just as messy in other areas of your life. The way you keep your home is a reflection of who you are.“Don’t let the number of rooms in your home be an excuse for clutter. It is easier to maintain a clean house with less space than it is to keep a large home tidy. Your time and energy are limited, so prioritize which areas need the most attention. Don’t waste time trying to keep your entire house spotless all at once; instead, take small steps toward making it more manageable and comfortable for you and your family.”
Preparing your home for sale is essential to making a successful transaction. There are many things involved in a successful sale, but here are seven tips on how to prep your home:
- Talk with a Realtor
- Decluttering your closets
- Organizing your Kitchen Cabinets
- Deep Clean
- Update Light Fixtures
- Get rid of things you no longer use or need
- Professional Photos
1. Talk with a Realtor
Buyers are feeling the pressure to buy a home now. With interest rates rising, buyers and sellers alike feel that now is the time to buy or sell.
Realtors are a valuable source of information as they are in touch with the pulse of the market. They’ll know what’s on the minds of clients, what’s selling and what neighborhoods might be good for a move-up buyer. Get them talking about the market!
2. Decluttering your closets
Here is a simple way to make some space in your closets.
Take everything out of your closet. Put it on the bed or somewhere else that is open and easy to work with. Group things in categories: pants, shirts, dresses, etc.
You can decide how you want to group these items into categories now or do it later. For the purposes of this exercise, I will simply group them by category and use 3 piles: 1 pile for keepers, 1 pile for maybe, and 1 pile for donate/give away/sell.
3. Organizing your kitchen cabinets
Storing your kitchenware and other equipment in the right way will save you a lot of time and money. I have organized my kitchen cabinets so that finding what I need is a snap.
I’ve found that using dividers, baskets, and holders makes everything easier to find and saves me loads of time. It’s also an easy way to organize a small space without having to buy new cabinets.
4. Deep Clean
Something that really turns a buyer off is walking into a home with a stench or seeing dirt built up on the baseboards or countertops, one of the key things that can help you do it is to make sure it’s clean. If your home has a bad odor or if there are dirty countertops and baseboards, potential buyers won’t want to see it.
5. Update Light Fixtures
Light fixtures are an excellent example of an easy way to make a home look bigger and brighter. They can be mounted on the ceiling, wall or even in the middle of the room. It doesn’t matter where you place it as long as it helps to light up the area.
6. Get rid of things you no longer use or need
Getting rid of things you don’t need or use is not just about decluttering your home and office. It’s also about getting rid of things that are weighing you down as a person.
Make a list with all the things you no longer need, use or wear. Put them in your car trunk and take them to a charity for donation.
7. Professional Photos
This goes beyond just cleaning it or using staging. You can use professional photos to really bring out its best features. he majority of buyers first view homes online before deciding if they want to see it in person. If the photos are poor quality, many buyers will simply move on to the next because it appears unattractive.
Conclusion
Sometimes, no matter how prepared we’ve been as owners, a successful sale involves having a strategic and knowledgeable realtor to guide and coordinate the many moving parts of a real estate transaction.
Buyers can be difficult to work with at times and the competition in certain markets and seasons of the year can be high, so we’ve found that having a team of professionals on your side to work through those issues and help you make smart decisions as a seller can make all the difference.
Best of luck if you are planning on selling a home soon!
