A Few Things Before Selling a Home

There are a few things that a Seller can do to act as a "quick fix" to making their home look presentable. First things is, get rid of clutter and all personal items. As a Buyer, I personally can get distracted and side tracked by too much of this stuff. I will often find myself looking at the family photos instead of the water damage in the corner of the room that is hidden by an overstuffed arm chair with great upholstery. Personal items or too much furniture can make a room feel too busy or stuffed. This leads the Buyer to conclude that the room is too small and they ended up not being able to picture their own furniture in the space. So box up some of that stuff and don't bring it out until you have moved into your new place.

Painting is also another inexpensive way to give your home a face lift. Take a look at your walls. When is the last time that they have seen a paint brush? Are their smoke stains from burning too many candles? Do you have soot trailers from forced hot air heat? Clean it up and paint it. It makes the room feel as if it was "re done" in a Buyers mind and they won't have to do it when they move in.

Remove any old or offensive carpeting. Do you have orange shag? Cat smell in the carpet? Rip that puppy up, tack strips too. You might be surprised to find that you have hardwoods under them. Buyers LOVE this, plus wood floors are hypo allergenic, since they don't hold onto allergens. Don't have hardwoods? Put down some inexpensive neutral Berber for a clean, updated feel.

Overgrown shrubs in the front of a home can mask windows and entry ways. Trim those bushes to give the outside appearance a tidy looks. Bushes that are large and in front of a window can darken a room on the inside. Aesthetically trim those bushes and watch the offers come in.

Lastly, if you are stumped on what your house needs, invite a neutral third party in to give you their honest opinion. Make it a delivery guy, a friend who loves to dish "reality checks" or the mailman. It doesn't matter. Ask them to identify the top 5 things that stand out to them as offensive. It will be painful to hear, but your Buyers will be seeing what they see and end up not making good offers because of it.