Here are 11 ideas to help make your home
more attractive to potential buyers.
1. The outside must shine
You’d be surprised at how many buyers “sell themselves” on
your house on the basis of their first impression as they
drive up the street. It’s called curb appeal. You can
enhance curb appeal by making sure the lawn is mowed, the
bushes are trimmed, and the flowerbeds are freshly mulched.
Spending a few hundred dollars on fresh paint on the front
of the house can return thousands of dollars in sale price.
Especially touch up the trim.
2. The inside must look new.
Again, paint is cheap. Be your own worst critic. If you
think a room could be brightened with a fresh coat of paint,
do it.
3. Make cosmetic repairs.
Windows that are cracked, holes in the walls, and tiles that
are chipped all send the wrong message to a potential buyer.
Things you may tend to overlook on a daily basis are the
things buyers seize on. The buyer is going to assume that if
there are many flaws that can be seen, then there may be
even more serious flaws that can’t be seen.
4. Let in as much light as possible
Open all the curtains. Turn on all the lights in the house
(even in the middle of the day) and increase the wattage in
the light bulbs of all the lamps.
5. Set the dinner table as if you
are getting ready for a dinner party. Put out
your best china and silverware. Put out your best glasses.
Don’t forget the candles. In this room, and in every room,
the idea is to show potential buyers how they would live in
your home… That it’s a place where they’ll be happy to
entertain their guests.
6. Get rid of the clutter.
Don’t just stash it somewhere, get it off the premises.
Remember, every room in the house has to be available for
inspection and every room needs to shout to a homebuyer,
“there’s plenty of room in here for your stuff!”
7. Kitchens and bathrooms
absolutely must be spotless. Shelves and countertops
must be clean and well organized. Also, assume that people
will be looking through your medicine cabinet. If there is
anything there you don’t want on public display, get rid of
it. Same for inside cabinets and drawers.
8. Remove some of your possessions.
Again, the
idea is to make your home look as roomy as possible. If the
house is packed floor to ceiling with your possessions, it
makes it harder for potential buyers to see how they’d live
in the house.
9.
Put
your pets somewhere else. Dogs especially are a
problem and must be moved somewhere else, preferably to
another part of town. Seriously? Why? Because when strangers
come into a house, your dog may very well start barking. You
don’t want the dog to interfere with the buyer’s ability to
see the house. However, don’t ask your neighbor to keep the
dog during the open house, either. If your dog senses there
are strangers wandering through your house, it may start
barking from next door. That will make potential buyers
think the neighbors have a loud dog, and that could be a
real turn off.
10.
Bad smells kill deals. It is worth your
money to make sure your house is clean and odor free. Pet
smells, urine on carpets, cigarette smoke, things you don’t
even notice anymore will attack the senses of visitors. Use
air fresheners if need be. The old standby is to bake
cookies or bread to send an inviting aroma through the
house.
11.
Leave. Yes you. As soon
as I arrive to supervise your open house, you should pack
the kids in the car and go somewhere, we want potential
buyers to freely walk around your home and see everything
they want to see without you looking over their shoulders.
Once you have prepared your home for the open house , leave
it up to me to handle the rest.
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