How to Prepare Your House For Sale

Expert Tips for Attracting Buyers

Are you thinking of listing your home but not sure how to get your house ready?  In this blog, I reveal expert tips on getting your house prepped for sale.

You’ve decided to sell your home but feeling overwhelmed at the number of tasks needed before going on the market.

Wondering where to start? 

I’ll walk you through each step, which begins during your initial consultation.  We go through each step and give you a guide of what you’ll need to do when.

Top Tips Before Going on the Market.

The price of your home is best determined after thoroughly assessing the condition of your home, and determining what needs to get done. 

You’ll have one chance to make a great first impression so you’ll want to make sure that every feature of your home is at it’s best, and highlighted in the listing.

Focus on the Exterior

First, you’ll want to make sure that the exterior of your home is appealing.  Many potential buyers judge a house by its curb appeal before going inside.  Make sure it’s at it’s best so you get as many people as possible through the door.

Preparing the Interior

Next, prepare your home in such a way that potential buyers can visualize themselves living in it.  Remove personal items such as photographs and keepsakes as this will boost its appeal to the broadest range of buyers.  Remember, you need to appeal to the masses, so keep everything as neutral as possible.

Activities to add to your list:

  • Depersonalizing
  • Fixing & repairing
  • Painting
  • Cleaning
  • Removing Clutter & Optimizing the space

All of these things contribute to creating a “feeling” when buyers walk through your home.  You want them to “feel” as if they could live in the home too.

Staging

Next, consider professional staging.  Stagers are experienced in transforming spaces to get the best possible return on investment in the shortest amount of time.  With the right stager, they’ll create an appealing look and feel for everyone walking through, and successfully highlight the positives while minimizing the negatives.

The Importance of Professional Photography

Once you’re ready, you’ll want a Realtor that brings in a professional photographer specialized in Real Estate photos.  With the property staged, they’ll get the right shot from various angles, and the correct lighting to create a successful listing.  A great photographer is able to present the home in its best light so that prospective buyers are motivated to book a showing from the online listing.

Decide on a Selling Strategy

Once on the market, you’ll work with your Realtor to pick the best listing plan for your needs.  Consider various lifestyle things such as:

  • Family life:  Do you have small children that need to be out the door by 8 am and in bed by 8 pm?
  • Are you going through a life change where sensitivity to this change is more important than an aggressive listing strategy?
  • Is the selling price of paramount importance?
  • Is speed of sale a top priority?

Once you communicate what’s important to you, work on a listing plan that makes sense for your lifestyle.

Consider whether you’d like to list at a lower price point for a potentially quicker sale and a chance at multiple offers.  Would you rather list closer to the true Market Value?   Or perhaps you have time and would like to test the market to see if you could get the highest price within the likely selling range.  A Realtor can walk you through each of these strategies to find the one that fits best.

Communicate with your Realtor

From showings to needing to keep everything “showroom” ready, having your home on the market can be stressful, especially if you have pets or small children. 

Make sure your Realtor knows and understands the whole picture so you can execute a strategy that keeps everyone happy!

Written by Deanna Allegranza, Realtor.

Looking for listing advice?  Comment below, or connect with me at info@deannaallegranzarealty.com

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