How to Ready Your Home for Sale: Inside First
An MLS listing is high on your priority list right now, but before you choose an MLS listing service, you are going to want to make sure that you get your home ready to sell. This is commonly known as staging. There are professionals who stage homes for a living, but you can easily do this yourself.
Firstly, you must detach yourself from what is soon to be your former home. Once you sell a house, it's no longer going to be where you live, but a place where someone new will, so you have to make potential buyers feel as if they could live there! Then you are ready to make the needed changes to quickly sell your home for top dollar.
Fix What Can Be Fixed
One of the first things sellers should do to prepare their homes for sale is to make minor repairs that they may have overlooked. Make a checklist before you search for the things that are simple enough to fix that may hinder your selling process. Consider these typical issues and find their solutions:
- Leaky faucets.
- Holes in the wall.
- Drawers that jam.
- Burnt-out light bulbs.
- Cracked floor or counter tiles.
- Doors that don't properly close.
Everyone Loves a Fresh and Clean Home
One of the steps to getting your home ready to sell is cleaning! Apart from your usual sweeping, dusting, and mopping, be sure to remember those hard to reach places such as above the cabinets, the light fixtures and in corners you wouldn't normally see when you walk by them. Clean out your refrigerator and make sure there are no stains or odors. Bleach the grout back to white if you have tile. Polish chrome faucets and mirrors. Be sure to clean windows both inside and outside of your home. Go all out to ensure that your house is pristinely clean. You can also opt to have a professional cleaning service come to your house to do this for you if you are short on time.
Another thing that you should definitely consider to get your home ready to sell is painting all the rooms of your home in a neutral color. Beiges, taupes and other such neutral colors have been proven to help sell your home quickly because they are easy colors to relate to. Plus, a neutral coat of paint in your for sale by owner listing can make the rest of your house seem fresh, lively and clean! No matter how great your flat fee listing may be, there is no getting around having a spotless and friendly home.
Make Your MLS Listing a Place Anyone Can Come Home to
When a potential buyer comes to see your home, you want them to feel as if they could live there. Be sure to de-clutter and de-personalize your home as much as possible and make it seem very organized. Consider this time as a head start to the packing you're going to need to do anyway after your MLS listing does its job. You're trying to appeal to everyone with your flat fee MLS listing so try to keep that in mind. Potential buyers love to look around and will open cabinets and doors. Walk around your home with a curious eye and:
- Remove your personal knickknacks.
- Take down religious or political items.
- Keep wastebaskets empty at all times.
- Leave bookcases almost completely empty.
- Clear away most or all of the items on top of your counters.
- Invest in kitchen cabinet organizers to make them seem more efficient and spacious.
- Pack most of the items in your closet so that no garment touches the other to create the idea of space.
In summary: After listing your home in the Florida or Alabama real estate market, prepare your home for sale so that you have an inviting place that buyers would love to move into!
