Setting The Stage

BE THE BUYER!

Put yourself in the buyers shoes and work to transform your house into their home.  When buying real estate, agents often refer to your purchase as a "home." Yet, when you are selling the same home, they often refer to it as a "house" or even “the property”. There is a reason for this. Buying real estate is often an emotional decision, but when selling real estate you need to remove emotion from the equation. 

You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity. Property. Real estate. Your goal is to get others to see it as their potential home, not yours. If you do not consciously make this decision, you can inadvertently create a situation where it takes longer to sell your property. The first step in getting your home ready to sell is to "de-personalize" it.

DE-PERSONALIZE!

If you visit the most appealing homes on the market, you will notice that they are anonymous. The house may have "personality" - but no person. One of the reasons that home is appealing is that it’s easy for buyers to imagine themselves there. When a potential homebuyer sees your family photos hanging on the wall, it puts your own brand on the home and momentarily shatters their illusions about living in the house themselves. 

Put away family photos, sports trophies, collectible items, knick-knacks, and souvenirs. Put them in a box. Rent a storage area for a few months and put the box in the storage unit. Do not just put the box in the attic, basement, garage or a closet. Part of preparing a house for sale is to remove "clutter," and that is the next step in preparing your house for sale.

WHAT IS CLUTTER?

This is the hardest thing for most people to do because they are emotionally attached to everything in the house. After years of living in the same home, clutter collects in such a way that may not be evident to the homeowner.  However, it does affect the way buyers see the home, even if you do not realize it.

Clutter is the rubble that occupies the surfaces of counters and tops of furniture.  Clutter has super powers.  Given enough time, it can make itself invisible and becomes part of our rooms and habits.  Clutter collects everywhere,...in drawers, closets, garages, attics, and basements.   

Go on an anti-clutter crusade!  

You've already decided that you're going to move, so go ahead and pack the clutter you want to keep and store it, but get rid of the rest.  Nothing is more disheartening than unpacking a box in your new place and realizing that it's completely full of junk - - and you just paid top dollar to have the movers move it for you.  

You want as much open clear space as possible, so every extra little thing needs to be cleared away. Take a step back and pretend you are a buyer. Let us, or a friend, help point out areas of clutter, as long as you can accept their views without getting defensive.

***If it looks like you are strapped for space, buyers assume the home doesn't have enough space.  If the home has cleared surfaces and orderly, unstuffed closets, buyers assume the home has enough space.

The Most Important Room in the House

Kitchens sell houses. We start our day in the kitchen and most of the time it's one of the last lights we turn off at the end of the day.  At parties, people gather in the kitchen.  Most showings end in the kitchen.  Discussions about offers usually happen in the kitchens.  

First, get everything off the counters. Everything. Even the toaster. Put the toaster in a cabinet and take it out when you use it. Find a place where you can store everything in cabinets and drawers. Of course, you may notice that you do not have cabinet space to put everything. Clean them out. The dishes, pots and pans that rarely get used? Put them in a box and put that box in storage. You see, homebuyers will open all your cabinets and drawers, especially in the kitchen. They want to be sure there is enough room for their "stuff." If your cabinets, pantries, and drawers look jammed full, it sends a negative message to the buyer and does not promote an image of plentiful storage space. The best way to do that is to have as much "empty space" as possible.

For that reason, if you have a "junk drawer," get rid of the junk. If you have a rarely used crock pot, put it in storage. Do this with every cabinet and drawer. Create open space. The kitchen is a good place to start removing clutter, because it is an easy place to start.

If you have a large amount of foodstuffs crammed into the shelves or pantry, begin using them – especially canned goods. Canned goods are heavy and you don’t want to be lugging them to a new house, anyway – or paying a mover to do so. Let what you have on the shelves determine your menus and use up as much as you can. 

Beneath the sink is very critical, too. Make sure the area beneath the sink is as empty as possible, removing all extra cleaning supplies. You should scrub the area down as well, and determine if there are any tell-tale signs of water leaks that may cause a homebuyer to hesitate in buying your house.

THE INTERIOR

Do not do anything expensive, such as remodeling. If possible, use savings to pay for any repairs and improvements – do not go charging up credit cards or obtaining new loans. Remember that part of selling a house is also preparing to buy your next home. You do not want to do anything that will affect your credit scores or hurt your ability to qualify for your next mortgage.

When looking at a house, prospective home buyers often do not really know what to do. So they play with things. They flick light switches. They open everything with a handle. They turn on all the faucets and flush all the toilets. Having nice shiny fixtures makes an impression.  All your sink fixtures should look shiny and new. If this cannot be accomplished by cleaning, buy new ones. If you don’t buy something fancy, this can be accomplished inexpensively. Make sure all the hot and cold water knobs are easy to turn and that the faucets do not leak. If they do, replace the washers.

It sounds like hard work, but it's pretty easy -- even for the inexperienced.

Check to make sure you have good water pressure and that there are no stains on any of the porcelain.

EXTERIOR

A homebuyer’s first impression is based on his or her view of the house from the real estate agent’s car.  They call that first impression "curb appeal."  So take a walk across the street and take a good look at your house. Look at nearby houses, too, and see how yours compares.  Then it may be time to go to work.