Tips to Get  Your Home Ready for Sale

Here are a few simple tips that will help you to get your home ready for sale, and get it sold. They are inexpensive and do not involve remodeling.  These are simple items that you should do before that For Sale sign goes up. Many people ignore these simple steps, don't let it be you.

1.  De-personalize the home.  When your home is placed on the market, it is no longer your home, but a house.  It is a commodity and potential buyers need to be able to envision it as their home.  Personal photos, trophies, religious items, souvenirs, etc should be stored away.

2. De-Clutter.  Unnecessary items need to be removed.  You may find them attractive but de-cluttering increases the feeling of spaciousness, cleanliness, and helps prospective buyers to picture their own stuff being there.   I have held many open houses and know that too much stuff can cause potential buyers to pay attention to the stuff instead of the house that is being marketed.

3. Make it bigger.  This applies very much to the Seattle market where there are many older homes and space is limited.  Remove and re-arrange furniture to make your rooms appear as large as possible.  Less is usually better.  If you don't want to get rid of it, place it in storage.  You probably won't want to do a lot of entertaining while your home is on the market, so some of that extra furniture can probably go.

4.  Clean out those closets.  By now you have probably stuffed the closets with boxes of stuff you have removed in the prior steps.  Rent a storage room or utilize your garage.  If it is summer time, bag those winter clothes and store them.  Closet space is an important selling point so show off the space by removing unnecessary items. Less is more.

5.  Clean, Clean, Clean.  Shine the floors, clean the carpets, wipe spots off the walls, light switches, doors and areas around door knobs.  Clean the windows, the appliances, dust the blinds, wipe the baseboards.  A dirty house is a turn off.  Always do your dishes and put them away before leaving for the day.

6. Paint where needed.  You don't have to paint your whole house, but if a room appears dirty or dark, you may want to consider painting it.  Make certain that you follow the proper procedures for cleaning, priming etc.  Painting over dirt does not generally work too well.  A little fresh paint also creates an illusion of a lot of fresh paint.

7. Take care of those odors. Carpets and drapes can hold odors that never seem to go away.  There are companies that specialize in removing odors through specialized cleaning processes.  If you smoke, do it outside.  If your house smells like smoke, you may need to consider a complete interior painting and carpet replacement.

8. Make Entry to the home appealing.  You want people to walk into your house with a smile.  This begins with the street appeal from the outside. A nicely maintained front yard helps. Keep the lawn neatly mowed and edged.  If you have flower beds, you can make them shine with some fresh bark mulch and a few new flowers.  Most buyers are looking for a home, so  you don't need to go overboard on the yard. They pay the most attention to the house, but putting a smile on their face with a nice yard helps get them in the right mood for when they open the door.   When potential buyers see a nicely maintained yard, they expect to see a nicely maintained interior, so making your yard nice can help bring in buyers.

9. Fix the small stuff.  Dripping faucets, leaky toilets, sticking doors, cabinets and drawers are all minor items that can readily be repaired.  If you have the skills to fix these you can avoid seeing them on a inspection report.  These small but obvious items can create the perception of a poorly maintained home.

10.  Clean the roof and gutters. Moss on the roof and weeds growing from the gutter are a sign of neglect and will most certainly be called by the inspector.  There are a number of products available that can be sprayed on the roof to kill the moss after which it can be brushed off with a broom. If you are not comfortable doing this yourself, consider having the work done by a professional.  Avoid pressure washing as this will remove granules from the roof and cause pre-mature failure.

11.  Remove any earth to wood contact around exterior of home.  Most codes call for at least 4" of clearance between soil and the house siding.  Making certain that there is no earth wood contact will keep the inspector from placing this on his report.

12.  Consider a pre-inspection.  If you are comfortable with the condition of  your home, you may want to consider hiring an inspector to go through the home before you place it on the market.  The inspector would go through the same process as an inspector hired by the potential buyer and point out any discovered defects.  You could then address these items and ask for a re-inspection (they usually come back a second time for a small fee).  You can then have this inspection report available to potential buyers.  

There is a downside to this pre-inspection. In Washington State, sellers are required to disclose known problems and if they had an inspection done. The inspection may create a bigger list of problems than you were aware of.  You should only consider having a pre-market inspection if you are prepared to address problems that may be discovered.  Alternatively, if a potential buyer walks away as the result of an inspection, you may feel the need to address these items anyway and may be required to disclose newly discovered problems to potential buyers.

While each house is unique and market conditions vary from location to location, it is important to consult a qualified realtor when getting your home ready for market.  If you are interested in selling and would like an objective opinion regarding what you should do to ready your house for sale, feel free to call me direct at (206) 412-0466.

Authored by Roger Bruening