Preparing To Put Your Home on the Market

It’s exciting yet stressful when preparing to put your home on the market. The thought of strangers walking through our homes brings out the doubt and perfectionist in all of us. What if they judge the color on the walls? What if it isn’t clean enough? Take a deep breath and let’s talk about some things you can do to get your home listed and buyer friendly in no time.

Declutter and Clean

We aren’t talking load the dishwasher and pick up everyone’s shoes. Those things are important, but when listing your home, it’s time for serious decluttering and a deep cleaning. Let’s start with decluttering:

• Closets — no matter which room (linen closet, bedrooms, laundry room), go through each closet and get rid of as much as you can. Buyer’s love closet space.
• Kitchen pantry — clean out the pantry, dump expired food, and reorganize for an impressive storage space.
• Basement storage room — we’ve all had the basement storage room that becomes a “catch all.” Clean yours out and donate or throw away whatever you can.

After the great decluttering adventure, it’s time to deep clean each room:

• Living areas — vacuum under furniture and in every corner, and dust if it’s been a while.
• Kitchen — shine up the appliances, wipe out cabinets, and clean out the refrigerator.
• Bedrooms — just like the living areas, put the vacuum to work sucking up crumbs and dust bunnies everywhere.
• Bathrooms — keep them clean and shining, including a scoured shower and bathtub. Make sure floors are clean and grout is scrubbed with grout cleaner.

In every room, be sure to keep things tidy and ready for a showing at all times.

The Kitchen Sells

It’s true—more often than not, the kitchen is what sells a house. We love our kitchens; it’s where we cook, socialize, and live a good chunk of our lives.

Clean out and organize the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Remove as much off the counters as you can to make it appear more spacious.

You don’t want to dump too much money into a house right before you sell. However, if the kitchen is in serious need of an update, it’s the one room that will hold back a sale if too outdated, or vice versa, bring a quick sale if shiny, new, and modern. Consider making any necessary changes in the kitchen if it’ll help sell the house.

Make Necessary Repairs

An inspection will bring out any needed repairs, so it’s best to fix what you can while preparing to put your home on the market. Too many broken items makes a potential buyer uncomfortable.

Keep It in Neutral

You love your hot pink bathroom and certainly we would too. Still, a potential buyer may have different taste than you.

Make the effort to paint everything in a neutral color so buyers can picture themselves living there.

In conclusion, the first step in preparing to put your home on the market is to imagine yourself as a buyer walking through the door. Use that vision to realize the improvements needed to sell the house.