If you’re ready to sell your home, what can you do to prepare your house for the market?
I have a quick overview of what you can do to prepare your home to sell. If you have any specific questions about your house, we’d love to meet with you, walk through your home, and show you what your competition is doing and what buyers like to see.
First impressions are really important. When you come home, try to put on your “I’ve never been here before” glasses and take a quick walk through the house with a notepad.
Start at the front door. Does the front door look neat and clean? Is the paint a little warped? If so, buyers who walk in may be a bit on guard. If the entryway is clean and everything looks sharp, buyers tend to relax and enjoy the house a bit more.
After you’ve walked through the front door, what do you see? Does the carpet look nice? Is the paint fresh? Again, the first impression is very important. Buyers are trying to get a feel for if the home will be a good fit. Can they move right in, or is the home going to be too much work for them?
From there, the rooms that have the greatest impact are the kitchen and the bathrooms, especially the master bathroom.
There are a number of little things that you can do that will go a long way toward selling your home.
The first and least expensive thing to do is paint. A fresh coat of paint goes a long way.
Next, change out worn flooring or flooring that is in an outdated color.
“If you have gold light fixtures in your home, make sure you get them updated.”
Another important thing you can do is change out the light fixtures. In our market, a lot of homes that are 15 to 20 years old have brass or gold light fixtures. For today’s homebuyers, those old light fixtures won’t cut it. That is an inexpensive update that only takes a couple hours and gives your home a fresh look.
You can make your kitchen and bathroom look better by getting hardware that matches the new light fixtures you just put in.
When we make these updates, buyers often ask how old the house is. When we tell them that it’s 15 or 20 years old, the same as the other homes they’re looking at, they say, “Well, I just don’t know what it was, but that home felt a lot newer.”
Oftentimes, that’s because the house has new light fixtures, new hardware on the cabinets, and a fresh coat of paint.
If your home needs a few more touch ups, we can put you in touch with great contractors and give you a few pointers on what is going to work well in your home so that you can sell for top dollar.
Right now, there are only 557 homes on the market. At this time last year, there were 850 homes on the market. That means that 2018 is going to be a good year to be a seller.
If you are thinking of selling or have any other questions about our real estate market, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!
