Before allowing potential buyers in your home, there are a few things you must do to prepare your home to sell. When trying to sell you home, you want potential buyers to leave with a good first impression. You want them to enter the home and see how spacious and clean it is. You also want these potential buyers to picture themselves living in your home.
To increase your chance of selling your home quickly, here are some simple and worthwhile things to do to prepare your home to sell.
Do a Deep Cleaning
You wouldn’t buy a shirt with a stain on it, would you? You would probably move on to the next shirt that didn’t have a stain, even if the stain was easy to remove. The same goes for when people are looking to buy a home. If they walk into a home that hasn’t had a deep cleaning, they may be put off. No matter how spacious and beautiful the actual house is, if it’s dirty or messy, some buyers can’t see passed that.
Do a deep cleaning to prepare your home to sell. Dust the baseboards, professionally clean the rugs, scrub out scratches on the walls, and make those windows sparkle. It’s incredible what a good scrubbing can do for a home.
Reduce Clutter
The number one thing your real estate agent will tell you when you prepare your home to sell is to reduce as much clutter as possible. This means putting away the framed pictures of your family, those piles of paper and bills on the desk, and your sentimental knickknacks on the bookshelf. When you have this clutter in your home, it not only makes it look smaller than it is, but is challenging for potential buyers to picture themselves living in the home.
While it can be emotional to take down the family pictures and box up those sentimental knickknacks, it will help sell your home in the end.
Make Repairs
It’s time to take out that “honey-do” list and get to work. All of those minor repairs that have been on your mind throughout the years should be done when you prepare your home to sell. This could be a simple repair like screwing a doorknob on tighter or a larger repair like fixing a dent or hole in the wall. When you prepare your home to sell, you want to put your best foot forward and show potential buyers that your home won’t require a lot of work when they first move in.
Make Small Renovations
If you are looking to get the most money for your home, it may be worth it to make some small renovations that will increase your home’s value. Whether it is putting in updated cabinets or simply adding dimming lights to the kitchen or living room, these small inexpensive renovations can make your home more desirable to potential buyers.
Enhance Curb Appeal
Help your home make the ultimate first impression by enhancing your home’s curb appeal. Trim the grass, add some colorful flowers to your garden, painting the mailbox, or simply doing a quick power wash on the exterior of your home. The better your home looks the minute potential buyers pull up, the greater change it has to sell quickly.
Prepare Your Home to Sell
Before you put your home on the market and schedule open houses with your real estate agent, it’s imperative to prepare your home to sell. The goal is to make it look spacious and clean by removing clutter and any personal objects. You want potential buyers to see themselves living in your home. To increase your home’s value and make it stand out from other homes on the market, make some small renovations like adding dimming lights. Allow yourself some time to prepare your home to sell before showings begin, it will definitely be worth it.
About Agent Lady: Cherise Wynne is a leading real estate agent in Philadelphia, helping home buyers and sellers navigate the City of Brotherly Love, with a special focus on first time home buyers. To chat about getting started with your first time home buying experience, call 215-518-5193 or click here.
