Sellers Time Tested Tips

Seller's Time Tested Tips

Ask your family, friends or neighbors to walk your home through looking through a "buyer’s eyes" and give you their honest opinions. In general: neutral colors with clean, bright and open spaces are better, get rid of any animal ordor to make your home appealing to the buyer.

Buyers buy homes based on emotion – how a home "feels" to them and other factors that buyers may not even be aware of. Buyers buy what they see.

Outside Your Home:

Good "curb appeal" is imperative. If people don’t like your house from the outside, they won’t want to come inside. The streets and the sidewalks near your home should be clean and without trash, and the exterior of your home should look clean and neat.

Keep front and back lawn mowed and raked, remove any dead limbs and debris and trim and cut hedges and shrubs to create a favorable first impression for a buyer.
Spruce up your landscaping with some fresh planting, extra flowers for color or just put some pots beside the front door.

Clean the sidewalk and driveways with a good sweeping/washing and patch any holes.

Walk your fence line. Repair broken areas and paint or stain spots that are in poor condition.

Get rid of any "junk" in your side or backyard.

Put away lawn equipment and neatly arrange outdoor firewood and furniture, etc.,

Clean out the garage. The perfect garage contains only cars and maybe so boxes at best.

Have a huge garage sale with all your excess items. Not only will you be reducing clutter, but you can use the money you earn to finance your touch-ups. You’ll also be reducing your moving costs.

Entry lights and doorbell must be tested. It’s the little things that matter.

Replace faded house numbers with shiny new brass ones.

Front doors are the first thing buyers see. Clean it, stain it paint it or repair it if it is faded or old. While you’re at it, do the same with the back door and garage door.

Fix and wash any broken windows or screens, for a bright, sparkling appearance.

Repainting the entire exterior of your home is a fairly expensive and unnecessary unless there is blistering or peeling. Instead, paint the window sashes, trim and shutters. It does wonders.

Repaint or replace the mailbox, if needed.

Rain gutter debris need to be cleaned, a pain touch up or realign if crooked.

Roof shingles or flashings need to be checked for repairs.

Inside Your Home:

After you’ve tackled the exterior of your home, head inside. The goal here is to make everything look clean and bright, spacious, organized and very appealing to the buyers eye!

No matter what the season, do your spring cleaning. Clean houses sell a lot faster than dirty houses.

Always open drapes and angle blinds to brighten rooms.

Always keep the lights on and buy some higher intensity light bulbs to put in every room.

Brighten things with fresh paint. White, off-white, or beige walls make a room look bigger and lighter. Painting the inside costs very little, gives a "new" smell, and makes a big difference in buyer perception, so just do it!

Clean every closet to make them look bigger. Store out-of-season clothes in the attic, basement or garage.

Clean all your window and mirrors so they sparkle.

Too much furniture can make a home "feel wrong." So move out all your excess furniture, especially worn or outdated furniture, to make rooms seem larger and uncluttered, and take down pictures that hide walls.

Arrange the furniture so each room appears as spacious as possible.

If the carpeting looks dirty, have it cleaned. If it looks worn, or is a loud color, consider replacing it. You will surely recover the cost, and sell your home faster.

Launder draperies and curtains, if needed. Dust blinds and furniture.

Clear off the kitchen counters – that includes small appliances and dish-draining racks. Make counters look as expansive as possible.

Clean out the inside of kitchen cabinets. Leave them looking clean and spacious.

Clean the oven and all appliances. Wash the grease splatters from around the stove. Don’t forget to polish the chrome on the sink. Clean out the refrigerator, use a clear wax and polish the floors.

If it’s time to spray or bomb for bugs, don’t wait until the last minute.

Grungy bathrooms kill sales. Make each bath look like a guest bath. Polish the tub, toilet, and bathroom sink. Clean all tile, grout, and caulk, replace cracked tiles, and regrout if necessary.

Put out fresh towels and a new bar of matching colored soap when the house is to be shown.

Fix leaky faucets and remove water stains and scrub your tubs.

Tack down any loose molding, glue down any lifted wallpaper; replace any cracked switch plates.

Clean the furnace/air conditioner return filters and vents. Then crank up whichever one is appropriate to make your home as comfortable as possible.

Get out your tool kit, and fix all those little things that you’ve lived with over the days, months or years.

Tighten loose doorknobs, drawers, cabinet handles, towel racks, switch plates, and outlet covers.

Fix sticking doors and windows, squeaking doors, and wobbly stair banisters.

When Your Home Is Shown:

When it’s time to show your home all your preparations will be worth it. But there are a few final tips that can add that little extra magic.

Before a buyers walks through out the door, give your home the welcoming aroma of fresh-baked bread or cinnamon rolls. (A pot of cinnamon and water on the stove will give the same results or you can spray perfume.) Do not smoke in the house!

Clear out the kids, the cats and the dogs and turn off the television, stereo, and radio. Like kids and animals, they too can be distracting.

Put all your valuables away, under lock and key and/or to another location if necessary. You never know if every buyer who comes to see your home with an agent is honest and/or is being watched by the agent when your gone.

Make yourself scarce. Many buyers feel like intruders when the owners are present and tend to spend less time and ask fewer questions. Your scarcity will put buyers at ease, allow them to spend more time looking and absorbing your home.

Be polite, but avoid conversations with buyers. Their agent needs their complete attention to increase their interest in your home.

Don’t apologize for your homes condition or appearance. It only brings attention to items that might have been overlooked.

Don’t try to complicate the sale of the home by discussing drapes, furniture, appliances, etc. If the buyer wants any of these items, the agent can ask about them later.

Keep your home on the market and let your home be shown even when you’re not there. Don’t limiting the showings – any day. Most agents will try to give you as much advanced warning as possible, but be prepared, their is such a thing as drive-by's.

About Us Buying Services Borrowing Contact Us Improvements $Refer A Friend$ Selling

Copyright © August 13,2000.
All rights reserved.