By: Penny & Charlie Ostlund – The Ostlund Team
Here are some proven tips to help you through the tidiest adventure of getting your home ready for the Market:
- Host a broker preview. Even if your home is not listed with a brokerage, if you are willing to pay a selling agent a commission, you can invite agents and brokers to preview your home. Agents can give you valuable feedback about how your home shows and whether your home pricing will meet buyer expectations.
- De-clutter – clutter can sometimes cost a sale due to the potential buyers not being able to see past all your valuables & collections and seeing the all the amenities your home has to offer. Move some furniture into the garage or storage. Smart sellers prepare a home for sale and move at least one piece of furniture out of every room or rearrange the furniture in other areas of the home. It makes the space feel and look larger and more inviting to buyers (to the people whose opinion matters).
- Depersonalize a little – most agents will tell you to take down all your family photos, but leaving some will show “lookers” the love in your home and the memories that were created and give them a sense of “HOME”.
- Clean the outside of your home, rain gutters as well as outside windows and screens.
- The “Grand Entrance” – make sure the front porch/door is inviting. Paint/stain if needed, replace any outdated outdoor lighting fixtures, new house numbers if the old ones are faded, new welcome mat, purchase or create a colorful potted arrangement to place on a step or by the front door, remove hoses or other non-essential miscellaneous items.
- Clean hardwood floors so they gleam and clean tile grout so it looks new and fresh.
- Touch up paint if needed
- Air neutralizers / candles / plugins – the winter months keep us all closed in, so freshening up the air will remove any disruptive smells
- Soft music playing in the background
Note – make your home satisfy all the senses – sight (updated, open and bright), smell (fresh), touch (clean) and hearing – the soft music will drowned out any road/traffic/neighbor dogs noise that may be going on outside. You are not just selling a home, but a lifestyle. So remembering why you feel in love with the home in the first place and highlighting that (or if you recently remodeled), will show the “lookers” that this is a loving home that was taken care of where great memories were made and more are ready to be created.
