Are you ready to sell your home but don’t know how to get it ready for the public eye? When it comes to being “show ready,” we understand the dread you might feel about cleaning out your home, especially if you’ve collected a lot of relics during your residency. We’ve encountered this problem in a lot of our clients, so we’ve developed a list of some industry tips to help you streamline the process and net the most money on your sale. 

It’s Important to be “Show-Ready!”

But first, you might be wondering why getting your home ready for market is even important in the first place. Why not just sell as-is? While that certainly is a thing that people do, we don’t recommend it on properties that aren’t distressed. 

Any professional in the industry would agree that getting your home show-ready is now more important than ever in the age of technology. Nowadays, a majority of people start their home search online, and in this case, a picture is truly worth a thousand words! In fact, staged homes sell for 6% more money than one that isn’t! 

Think about it this way, have you ever walked into a house with tacky furniture, old wallpaper, and shaggy rugs? Your first impression was probably that it was off-putting, or at the very least, outdated. Even if you weren’t actively critiquing the house, you’ve involuntarily made a subconscious opinion that the home is less desirable. In addition, seeing the personal belongings, heirlooms, family photos, etc. of the homeowner can subconsciously set the tone that your buyer doesn’t belong. 

You want to make sure your home is a clean slate before welcoming people through the door. The LAST thing you want to happen is for prospective buyers to focus on your eclectic furniture choices that distract them from appreciating your home’s best features. If your interior design choices are outdated, buyers might think other parts of your home are too!

The realtor you work with will likely advise you to do all of the things on this list (and more), but if you’re thinking about selling, this is blog is an excellent place to start to see what labor, time, and money you will need to invest in before potential buyers walk through the door. 

Purge Your Belongings

Selling your home successfully will ultimately mean you need to purge some of your belongings. You might want to consider renting a storage unit to keep all your items in while you’re temporarily staging your home. Consider this “pre-move packing” to make things easier on you! 

Declutter Your Spaces

First, you’ll want to declutter your home by reorganizing closets and shelves. This is a good time to discard any junk you don’t need. 

Depersonalize Your Items

Depersonalizing your home means you should remove toys, photo albums, bulletin boards, etc. You want to make sure your home feels warm and welcoming, but you don’t want a bunch of knick-knacks hanging around. Personal items can be distracting, so instead, you’ll want to present buyers with a clean slate so perhaps they can imagine their own photos hanging in the house. 

Deep Clean

After purging, reorganizing, and decluttering, you’ll want to give your house a deep cleanse. Either you can do this yourself, or you can hire a professional to get in all those nooks and crannies! 

Minor Repairs

Now would be the time to call a handyman to fix locks, hardware, faucets, cracks in the walls, broken appliances, squeaky doors, etc. If you don’t take the time to hire a handyman to fix these minor problems, your potential buyers might think the house hasn’t been well taken care of, which can turn them away. Your buyer might even request that you have these issues fixed as a part of their contract, so you might as well do it now! 

Interior Paint

A fresh coat of paint goes a LONG way. Choose neutral, light colors as this will make your home appear bigger and brighter. 

Curb Appeal

First impressions are EVERYTHING. What’s the first thing that your buyers will see? The outside, of course! Make sure the exterior of your house looks just as good as the inside—paint the front door, add pots of flowers and shrubs, mow the lawn, fix cracks in the walkways, etc. All these minor repairs and attention to detail go a long way!

Professional Consultants

If you are considering selling your home, there is no better time than now! Our team can give you a free market evaluation and show you exactly how much you can sell your home for in today’s market. We will let you know exactly what you need to do to prepare your home with the goal of netting you the most amount of money! We will even give you access to our exclusive guarantees and programs we offer such as our 100% of Asking Price Guarantee. This is where we guarantee to sell your home for 100% of the asking price or we will pay you the difference. Call us now to learn more! You can reach us at 703-634-6615.