* 10 THINGS TO DO WHEN SELLING YOUR HOUSE

Have you ever seen photos of homes for sale where all you see is clutter and mess?

If no one ever comes into your house, your chances of selling it are close to none!

It is crucial that the house be photo ready and show ready before going on the market. Don’t hire an agent who’ll just show up to have you sign on the dotted line and snap some photos without preparing the house first! Well, unless that is what you want, of course!! You’d be surprised to know how many sellers just don’t want to lift a finger to change things. In that case what’s an agent to do? Well, I am trying to change the mind-set of sellers who up to now have given this subject much thought or do not know the impact this may have on the profit of the sale. Statistics show that staged homes on average sell in less time and or for more money.

Did you know that staging does not have to cost much, if anything? Well, it doesn’t!! Knowing this fact would you consider staging your house? I am going to guess that the answer is yes! Most of what you can or need to do can be done with items found already in the home. Oh, and one more thing……the cost of staging is always less than your first price reduction!!! With that being said, here is a short list to get you off to a good start…..

1. Stand across the street and look at your house. Remove anything that seems out of place or that seems to crowd the house or is distracting in any way.

2. Trim all plants/bushes removing any dead, and or, overgrown branches. Mow and edge the lawn. Trim trees bottom-to-top and bushes top-to-bottom. There should not be any plants blocking any of the windows.

3. Add new colorful flowers to any empty spots in borders or accent areas. Purples, oranges & reds are great choices that attract a lot of attention! Be sure to keep all plants watered to keep them looking their best!Or maybe the corner of a room which gives no indication of how big the room IS? Well, that is NOT how you sell a house! An agent ca not make a seller clean or unclutter their home but it will be costly for the seller not to follow an agent’s advise to get the house in shape prior to being put on the market. Now that every listing on the market is on the internet you need to make sure your house can compete with other homes within its class current for sale.

4. Set the mood starting at the front door! This will set the stage for what awaits inside. Potted plants with beautiful flowers, a new wreath reflecting the current season on the door is a nice welcoming touch!

5. Declutter, declutter, declutter, depersonalize, depersonalize, depersonalize! Stand at the door to each room and see what the buyer will see. Better yet, take pictures then take a look. Decluttering and depersonalizing will allow the buyer to picture themselves in the space and will prevent them from getting distracted looking at your stuff. You’re selling your house not your stuff, so put your stuff away!!

6. Clean the house. I am talking detailing here…Q-TIP CLEAN!! Just like you would detail your car if you were selling it, so should you detail your house. In fact your house is worth so much more so it makes sense to do that. But in fact many people clean their cars better than their house when selling it.

7. Allow light into the house. By simply opening all window coverings during showings you'll give your area a greater appeal.

8. Eliminate pet odors if at all possible, or any odors for that matter! Pet & cigarette odors especially turn off non-pet owners. It makes them feel that the entire house is dirty and that the odor will never come off. And in some cases that may be the case depending on how deeply penetrated the house is with the smells.

9. Organize all closets in the house! Plan on removing at least one third of everything you have in your closets. Unless you keep your closets very neatly organized you will need to do this in order to let the space be seen. Overly stuffed closets give the impression that the house is too small and that there is not enough storage space to store things. Everyone has stuff to store and they are looking for space to store it.

10. Make the house smell good by lighting candles often and if possible by having fresh flowers during showings. They can be from your garden or store bought. If you can’t afford flowers you can add greenery from your yard. Cutting from the yard last even longer than flowers and they add a fresh feeling to the home.

There are SO many more tips I have to share with you but it will have to be next time! Other tips include detailed instructions for each room, counters, furniture, what to do with what you decide to leave during the sale and HOW to display it. But I hope that these tips I’ve given here will be helpful to anyone who reads them. Thank you for visiting and visit again soon!! Turn all the lights in every room and have all doors to all rooms open while the house is being shown. There is nothing worse then a scary and cluttered dark house where agent and buyers are scared to open doors to peak into rooms not knowing what to expect!! Once I was showing a house and there was passed out man on the bed! Just weird!!!

Here you see you see that on a vacant house you can pay attention, to say the bathrooms. The kitchen is another room that should be stated if at all possible.

I like including photos with my posts!
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