Do These 10 Things Before Putting Your Home On The Market

The market is amazing right now! We've seen home values steadily rise while mortgage rates remain historically low. It's the perfect combination! There has never been an better time than NOW to sell your home! Whether you are downsizing, upsizing, moving to acreage, or relocating, the market is RIPE for selling your home.

IT'S A SELLERS MARKET

Even in a Seller's Market, you will still need to do some work to get your home ready for buyers to view. Our goal here is to receive multiple offers. To do that, we have to put our best foot forward. Presentation is EVERYTHING.

From cleaning to staging to depersonalizing your home, here are 10 things to do before you sell your home.

GETTING READY TO SELL

#1 Declutter

Decluttering and organizing your space will go a long way in appealing to potential buyers. When a home is clutter-free, it allows buyers to picture themselves living there. They will focus more on the home and not be distracted and overstimulated by all of the "extra stuff" everywhere. This may require you to purge, donate, discard or store most of what you own. Remember - while you are going through this process - Less is More.

#2 Paint The Walls

It's amazing the effect a fresh coat of paint has on a home. We recommend freshly painted walls in a neutral color throughout the home. This gives the home a "New Home" feel. We use light greys, beiges and "greige" (grey-beige) quite often with success. It opens up the floorplan, making the home appear bigger and brighter and more welcoming. Painting your walls will also cover up a lot of history (such as scuffs, scratches, fingerprints) and convey a blank slate to a potential buyer.

#3 Depersonalize Your Home

This one is the hardest for most. When you sell your home, your goal is to strike the perfect balance between depersonalization and creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere. This means putting away the bulletin board, refrigerator art, photo albums, framed wall photos of family, and personal items like magazines, toys, equipment, awards, etc.

#4 Clean The Carpets

If your carpets are still in good shape, having them professionally cleaned is the most cost effective treatment for them. If your carpet is a non-neutral color, or has pet stains, consider replacing them with vinyl plank flooring or neutral carpet if it is in your budget. New flooring is a great selling feature of a home and leaves a lasting impression with a buyer. It gives the home the appearance of "NEW".

#5 Remove Pets

Removing evidence that pets once lived in your home is of the upmost IMPORTANCE. A house can be amazing and beautiful but if you walk in and it smells like animals, it will kill the deal almost every time. If you can board your animals or have someone take them while your home is on the market, that would be the best case scenario. Otherwise, if you are living there with animals while the home is listed, it needs to be spotless and odor free for your buyers to walk through. You will need to remove your pets before your showings each time. This includes all pets such as dogs, cats, litter boxes, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, snakes and other exotic creatures.

#6 Clean Up The Exterior

Take a walk outside and examine your curb appeal. What can you improve? Broken siding, peeling paint, torn window screens - all of these things create an eyesore. Create a list of "To-Do's" for the exterior. Don't forget to include your landscaping in your list as well.

It is understandable that you may be limited to what you can do due to seasonal weather.

#7 Make a Handyman List

Although it is not necessary to fix absolutely everything in your home, you may be required to fix some things in order to pass your occupancy inspection. Occupancy inspections are performed by your local municipality to ensure that the home is safe for adults and children to live there. Occupancy Inspections are only required when selling a home or when a rental home changes occupancy (such as new tenants). Gwen Co is happy to review your home and your list of items to fix and assist you in prioritizing the ones you will need in order to pass your occupancy inspection. You can schedule an appointment with us online here

#8 Deep Clean Your Home

You never get a second chance to make a first impression - so don't let dirty floors, dusty surfaces and foul smells make a bad one with a potential buyer. Before listing your home and throughout the selling process, give your home a deep clean. This means cleaning toilets, wiping down all surfaces, mopping floors, cleaning rugs, and scrubbing bathrooms and kitchens. The smell of a freshly cleaned home when a buyer walks through WILL leave a lasting good impression.

#9 Replace Your Lightbulbs

It sounds crazy but you wouldn't believe what changing out all of the bulbs in the house to bright LED daylight bulbs will do for your interior. It's almost MAGICAL. Light actually has a color. When you go to the store you will likely find soft white (2700k - 3000k), bright white/cool white (3500K-4100K) and DAYLIGHT (5000K-6500K). I recommend DAYLIGHT BULBS all day long. We use them when we rehab for selling homes and it makes a HUGE difference for a small investment. When you show your home, you are going to have every light and lamp in every room ON. It's important that all of these fixtures have lightbulbs and the same color temperature lightbulb. Soft white bulbs and Cool White bulbs throw off a dingy yellow tone, which is unappealing and can make the beautiful paint color you just put on the walls appear dull and discolored. Daylight bulbs enhance your homes interior light will also match the natural lighting coming through your windows.

#10 Find An Agent

Although it is not required to use a Realtor to sell your home, I have found that it is worth partnering with a seasoned professional to facilitate the sale of your home. Realtors (with proven track records) posses an array of knowledge and can help you negotiate, prepare contracts and addendums, and generally help you with the hard part of selling your home. Gwen Co has partnered and worked with some of the top producing agents in the St Louis Area, and we are happy to provide a referral if you are needing a realtor that can move your home as quickly and painlessly as possible.

We are here to help you through the process of getting your home ready for the market! Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have! If you have recently sold your home, comment below and tell us how you got your home ready to sell!

Roofer Gwen

Gwen Co, LLC

info@gwen-co.com