When marketing your property for sale, the main goal is to sell the at the highest possible price, in the shortest amount of time, and at the most favorable terms. It’s careful planning and knowing how to professionally prepare your property for sale that will accomplish this goal. Below, are some guidelines that will help you when preparing the property for the market.
Once you have decided the property sale is no longer a Property, but a business! Say goodbye to every room. Don’t look backwards — look toward the future.
Pack up those personal photographs and family heirlooms. Buyers can’t see past personal artifacts, and you don’t want them to be distracted. You want buyers to imagine their own photos on the walls, and they can’t do that if yours are there! You don’t want to make any buyer ask, “I wonder what kind of people live in this property?” You want buyers to say, “I can see myself living here.”
People collect an amazing amount of “things’. Consider this: if you haven’t used it in over a year, you probably don’t need it. If you don’t need it, why not donate it or throw it away? • Remove all books from bookcases. • Pack up those knickknacks. • Clean off everything on counters. • Put essential items used daily in a small box that can be stored in a closet when not in use. • Think of this process as a head-start on the packing you will eventually need to do anyway.
• Wash windows inside and out. • Rent a pressure washer and spray down sidewalks and exterior. • Clean out cobwebs. • Re-caulk tubs, showers and sinks. • Polish chrome faucets and mirrors. • Clean out the refrigerator. • Vacuum daily. • Wax floors. • Dust furniture, ceiling fan blades and light fixtures. • Bleach dingy grout. • Replace worn rugs. • Hang up fresh towels. • Bathroom towels look great fastened with ribbon and bows. • Clean and air out any musty smelling areas. Odors are a no-no.
Go outside and open your front door. Stand there. Do you want to go inside? Does the house welcome you? Linger in the doorway of every single room and imagine how your house will look to a buyer. Examine carefully how furniture is arranged and move pieces around until it makes sense. Make sure window coverings hang level. Tune in to the room’s statement and its emotional pull. Does it have impact and pizzazz? Does it look like nobody lives in this house?
If you are really a great collector of things, it may be necessary to consider renting a storage unit to remove items in the Property to allow buyers to see a more spacious property.
If a buyer won’t get out of her agent’s car because she doesn’t like the exterior of your Property, you’ll never get her inside. • Keep the sidewalks cleared. • Mow the lawn. • Paint faded window trim. • Plant yellow flowers or group flower pots together. Yellow evokes a buying emotion. Marigolds are inexpensive. • Trim your bushes. • Make sure visitors can clearly read your property number.
If you want to take window coverings, built-in appliances or fixtures with you, remove them now. If the chandelier in the dining room once belonged to your great grandmother, take it down. If a buyer never sees it, she won’t want it. Once you tell a buyer she can’t have an item, she will covet it, and it could blow your deal. Pack those items and replace them, if necessary. • Make Minor Repairs • Replace cracked floor or counter tiles. • Patch holes in walls. • Fix leaky faucets. • Fix doors that don’t close properly and kitchen drawers that jam. • Consider painting your walls neutral colors, especially if you have grown accustomed to purple or pink walls. • (Don’t give buyers any reason to remember your property as “the property with the orange bathroom.”) • Replace burned-out light bulbs. • If you’ve considered replacing a worn bedspread, do so now!