There will come a time that you might want to sell your house for various reasons. It could be because you want a newer one. The kids might have already flown the coop, and it’s now too big for you. A change in jobs or retirement might cause you to relocate to another city. Maybe you find it difficult to make your mortgage payments and would like to go back to renting a more affordable place. Whatever the reason, you have to prepare your house before it can be sold. You do this because you want to maximize its resale value and get the best price for it. A little effort will go a long way. Here are five recommended tips by Redfin in order to prepare your home for potential buyers.
Make it Look Up-to-Date – If your house looks old and dated, people will offer a lower price for it. The least you can do is to make it look as new as you can. If you can afford it, a fresh coat of paint is always the best way to make a house look like it had a recent facelift. Do some minor repairs. Mow the lawn and trim all the bushes. The pretty landscaping will set the tone that you take good care of the house. Make the inside of the house sparkle by doing an extensive cleaning. Buy tons of cleaning products and make sure that every surface gleams and passes the white glove test. If you can afford it, hire a cleaning service to come and clean the house regularly.
Depersonalize Your Home While they may ask about the background of the house, they are not really interested in the kind of life that you and your family had in the house. All they will care about is that y
ou took care of the house. They don’t want to hear about how your kids grew up and all that. They want to picture out the kind of life they will be living if they buy your house. Remove all signs of your personality and make the house as neutral as possible. Sort of like a hotel room or a magazine page. It‘s homey and inviting yet devoid of personality. Remove family pictures and framed kid’s art from the walls. Take down all those cards and drawings on the refr
igerator. Replace them with photographs of landscape and generic artwork. Some flowers might also look nice.
Organize Your Closets, Drawers, and Cabinets People are snoopy by nature and will open closets and drawers as they tour around your home. Nothing is more unappealing that opening a cabinet and seeing all these dusty and dirty items haphazardly arrange. Take the time to clean out everything and organize them into boxes and neat piles. But some of those vacuum bags to keep bulky items from taking up too much space. Women pay particular attention to closets so you must be able to show that there is ample closet space for all her things.
Rent a Storage Unit Most cities and towns in America offer storage rentals. You can choose the size you want and whether you require a climate control unit. Renting storage units have become so popular that there is even a reality show about auctioning of storage units where the owners have defaulted on their payments. Renting a storage unit is a strategic way to remove clutter from your home. It can even become a transitio
n site if your new home isn’t ready yet. You can pack up early and store boxes of things that will be going with you on your move. You can also hide some decor and furniture that you do not want to be included in the sale your house. If a buyer doesn’t see them, then it won’t be part of negotiation.
Bake Something When a Buyer Comes To Visit Studies have shown that smell is the sense that is most attached to your memories
. A house smelling of cookies and apple pie will remind potential buyers of their happy childhood. By baking cookies, cake, or pie, you will allow that aroma to permeate the house and be the first aroma the buyer will smell. The buyer will appreciate that that this home can make them recall their younger years. It also doesn’t hurt to have some fresh baked goodies on hand while you talk things over with the buyer. You can do a variety of things to stage a house for resale. What other tips and tricks can you recommend?