While selling your home for the first time might sound as simple as just hiring a realtor to stick a sign out front, you might be surprised by how much goes into selling. There are a lot of preparations you can, and should, make to ensure you get the best offer possible in the shortest amount of time.
Repair Your Home
Maybe you’ve gotten used to the cracks in the walls and the rattles in the radiators, but that doesn’t mean a buyer will, too. If you have hardwood floors that could be refinished, getting them done would be very beneficial—hardwood is beautiful, and a huge selling point. Buyers tend to look closely and be very detail-oriented, so keep an eye out to fix any sticky doors, or even drawers, as well. Finally, make sure to address any possible unattractiveness with the exterior—fences, shingles, sidewalks, even weeds in front yard flower beds. After all, without curb appeal, some buyers may not even be interested enough to make it inside the house.
Neutralize Your Home
You want buyers to see themselves in your home. If your living room has lime green shag, wood-paneled walls, and all your collectibles and personal photographs, this will be much harder for them to do. Try replacing any bold color choices in your floors and walls with something more neutral—think beige, tan, and white. Consider keeping the style of the house being shown minimal; instead of family photos, hang paintings or photos that aren’t family photos on the walls, as this makes buyers feel less like they stepped into someone’s home, and gives them the ability to see the potential of this house becoming theirs. Repainting and re-flooring will make everything look fresh and new, and help prospective buyers imagine all the possibilities, and colors or details they could add to make the house their own.
Stage Your Home
Once your house is clean and updated, it’s time to play dress up. Home stagers can add small details and décor touches that will bring out the possibilities in the various spaces in your home: lamps, mirrors, throw rugs and pillows, flowers, decorative soaps and towels, patio furniture. Home staging can be particularly useful if your home is especially old, or if the exterior looks dated, and helps you keep the area neutral. Those family photos we discussed earlier will be traded out for a vase of flowers, or a small lamp. Small, minimalistic touches like this will not only make the interior of the house look more appealing, it will also play a big role in helping the potential buyers view the house in one of its purest states- a practically blank canvas with which they can paint on however they’d like.
