Preparing your Home for Sale

It takes more than a simple housecleaning to prepare your home for sale.  There are a few easy steps you can take to make sure your home sells quickly.  The rule of thumb is that you want prospective home buyers to be able to easily visualize themselves moving into your house (and making it their home!).

The first thing to do is to declutter the space, and give the house a good cleaning, but also remove personal items like photos and magnets from the fridge.  You want prospective buyers to envision themselves in your home, and paying attention to these little details will actually make quite a difference.  A fresh coat of neutral paint, freshly cleaned carpeting, and a nicely tended yard are also great ways to make your house stand out from the crowd of other homes for sale.  

You've probably heard the term "curb appeal" and that is the very first impression people will have of your home, so make sure you don't overlook it!  Clean up the yard, hide hoses and other garden stuff and debris, mow and water the lawn, trim overgrown trees and shrubbery, and if possible plant some nice flowers to give your home a cheery look.  You don't have to spend a lot of money, even one or two flowerpots or a hanging basket on the front porch can lend that nice welcome touch that makes a house look like a home.

Read these additional articles below to learn more about how you can best prepare your home for sale.

• How to Declutter your Home
• Staging Your Home - Decorating a House to Sell
• How Curb Appeal Helps Sell a Home

How to Really Declutter Your Home for Buyers
 by: Bob Lipply

Your real estate agent has come to your house to assess what needs to be done to sell it the quickest. The word, "declutter," continues to come up. You assure your agent that you are a very neat person and that everything will be clean when the potential buyers come to view it. Many sellers encounter the same situation each day. What agents wish their clients would understand is that decluttering is more than just keeping the baseboards dust-free and the countertops wiped down. Try some of the following tips and wow your real estate agent, and especially, your buyers.

With pen, paper and clipboard in hand, tour the outside of your home, then the inside. As much as possible, pretend that you don't own the house and even that you've never seen the place. You will quickly see what your real estate agent meant by decluttering when you use this new perspective. Write down anything which is the least bit offensive to the eye, including unruly hoses, toys in the front yard, a busy mantle above the fireplace and newspapers stacked up in the laundry room. The list will seem longer the more times you go through the process. However, the more you notice, the more prepared your home will be for eagle-eyed buyers.

The biggest stumbling block for sellers preparing their home for the market is their lingering attachment to their house. From repainting a room neutral, to taking family photos off the wall, sellers must accept that their time in that particular house is coming to an end. To counteract this mental block, take your most personal items out of rooms first. Get plenty of clear plastic tubs, or boxes to store your items. Treat the decluttering process as if you are preparing a model home for viewing. In order to sell your home, you have to give the buyers room to imagine their personal belongings. Little forward-thinking daydreams about decorating your new abode should also counteract those strong attachments.

A good round of decluttering will often leave you with a pile of boxes and bins to contend with. Although stacking them up in a closet seems like a nice, out-of-the-way option, this may not be the best choice. Consider that closet space is often one of the key selling points for a home. Closets should look as impeccable as possible. This will aid greatly in creating a spacious feeling. If the closets are crowded and messy, the buyer may think that your home is just not big enough, even if it has the square footage they want.

Your garage is the most acceptable place for storage in the mind of the buyers. Of course, not everyone has this luxury. If you can convince a family member, friend, or even a neighbor to let you store those boxes and crates, then take advantage of the opportunity. However, if you really need or want your storage items in the house, then try to stack them up in the least conspicuous place you can find. A playroom or basement can usually stand to have a few of these bins stashed in the corner. Better yet, think about renting a temporary storage facility to house these things.

Despite all your efforts, be prepared to hear your Tampa Bay Florida real estate agent tell you that you still have too many belongings cluttering the house. If this happens, just remember that they're on your side and that they're the expert. Also, remember that a well-decluttered house is your quickest ticket to a "Sold!" sign.

 

About The Author Bob Lipply is a licensed broker associate with Remax Realtec in Palm Harbor, Florida. He has many years of experience in selling Tampa Bay Florida Real Estate and has helped many families relocate to Florida and find their dream homes. Visit his website at http://www.lipplyrealestate.com or contact him direct at 1-888-423-5775. e-mail address is info@lipplyrealestate.com

Decorating to Sell a House by Meeting Three Key Needs
 by: Julie Dana

Specific marketing campaigns are no longer just for automobiles and designer clothes. Targeted marketing techniques are now applied to houses that are for sale. Decorating your house in a specific manner to facilitate the selling of it is an important aspect of selling and marketing your home; this type of decorating is called home staging.

The goal of this type of decorating is to strategically style to address the psychological needs of the buyer. The buyer has three major needs when they look at the house.

Can I imagine myself (my family) living here?

Is this an easy, carefree house to live in?

Is this a good value for my money?

All décor choices you make to sell the house will reflect those needs of the buyer.

The most important tip to keep in mind at all times is that first impressions are critical in every area. The first time a potential buyer sees this house is curb appeal. That first glance they get as they step in the house can sell the house. First impression will happen in each and every room; make that impression awesome!

Remove: This area of staging is very difficult for some homeowners because it involves decorating it as a marketable house not as a beloved home. You do not want anything personal on display. This includes removing all family photographs, all toiletries, mail/bill piles, and all special collectibles. All bathroom and kitchen counters need to be cleared expect for only one or two decorative objects. Generally speaking, remove all wallpaper and paint all rooms a neutral ivory color. This meets the need of being able to imagine living there (and not being distracted by who lives there now)

Clean: The house needs to be absolutely sparkling clean. This includes washing windows inside and out, shining the kitchen sink, dusting baseboards, bleaching grout around tiles. It also needs to smell clean and fresh. The house can not smell of animals or cooking. Do not have daily housekeeping supplies visible to potential buyers. This includes laundry baskets and dish drainers - nothing to remind people that there will be work to do in this house. You want to meet their psychological need of living in an easy, carefree house.

Reduce: This area of staging® is the most over looked area by the do-it-yourself home seller. All closets of any kind - (foyer closets, master bedroom closets, linen closet, pantry etc) must only be half full. And that does really mean only ½ full. Also consider taking out the extra living room chair or extra dresser in the bedroom. Pack up items you can do without for the next couple months. You want to show that the house has lots of space and room to grow. This meets the needs of good value for the money.

These three simple but effective decorating techniques can help you market and sell you home for what it is worth.

 

About The Author Julie Dana is a professional Interior Redesigner and Accredited Staging Professional. Her company, The Home Stylist, offers online decorating consultations, do-it-yourself decorating plans and real-estate staging. Visit http://www.thehomestylist.com/ to take a fun style quiz, vote on a color poll, and sign up for free decorating e-newsletter. julie@thehomestylist.com

How Creating Curb Appeal Will Help You Selling Your Home
 by: Susan Wong

You may not know and realize how important of curb appeal to your home. It is a common sense that if you have an attractive and clean home on the outside, this will make someone want to see the inside. This strategy is very useful when you are attempting to sell you home; great curb appeal is just as important as having a home show beautifully on the inside. If the outside is not clean this can deter a potential purchaser from even booking a showing to see your home, even though the interior could be spectacular.

It is better to get others’ opinions in order to take an objective look at the outside of your property. To enhance the appearance of your home there are a few inexpensive things you can do. The most important consideration is the state of repair of the property. You must repair everything that needs repairing, which includes any cracked windows, broken railings, loose screens, crooked shutters, loose awnings, broken light bulbs, etc.

When finishing with repairing, you then turn to cleaning and unculttering processes. The garage should be cleaned out and items thrown out that have not been used in a year. Remove old tires, paint cans, bicycles, loose shrubs and broken lawn furniture from the yard.

Clear all pathways of any debris. Trim all shrubs and remove dead branches. Clean out the eaves. Don't forget the back yard! A new paint job can add tremendous curb appeal. Paint front doors, garage doors, trim and shutters a contrasting color to the brick and siding for a dramatic effect. Use only one color for uniformity and balance. Too many colors look busy.

Siding can be power washed to refresh the appearance. Flowers and flower pots can add tremendous color to a boring front yard. Place flower pots and large outdoor plants in a variety of colors on the front steps, walkways, or porches. Hang flower pots from the ceilings of verandas or hang on railings. Buy plant hooks and hang flower pots from them, which can be placed on the sides and front walls of your home. Plant a few flower beds with some green perennial plants for contrast. This is fairly inexpensive, but can add a lot of appeal to your yard. There are many books on landscaping at the library that can help you with this. Nurseries can offer helpful suggestions as well.

Spotlights focused on your flower beds can brighten up the yard at night giving it a very homey and welcoming feeling. This is also good for safety. A well lit home is a deterrent for burglars.

Lastly, add a decorative wreath and outdoor floor mat to the front of the door. This just adds the finishing touch and offers a welcoming appearance.

 

About The Author Susan Wong maintains many interesting contractor websites, including http://www.generalcontractorsecrets.info , http://www.generalcontractorsguide.info , and http://www.paintingcontractorsecrets.info. Please visit her websites and read more useful articles.