Preparing your Home for Sale
Part one of this article examined budget staging and preparation, but living
in the mid-Peninsula many sellers have larger, more expensive homes that
benefit from more extensive preparation and staging. We examine below
additional steps in preparing your home for sale that will help you attain the
highest possible sales price. First review the steps of part one, including:
thorough cleaning, painting, de-cluttering, and lighting, then add some or all
of the items below to your list, depending on your price range, target client,
and overall desirability of your home.
Fix Items in Need of Repair
Completing all home inspections before listing your home is a critical part of
selling in the mid-Peninsula. Use those reports to correct any items that are
in need of repair so you can present a home that is fully functioning and safe
for the new buyer. Any deferred maintenance that is apparent will create
doubt in the buyer’s mind that the home for sale will be trouble free in future.
Focus on the Most Inconvenient Items
Refinishing hardwood floors isn’t terribly expensive or difficult to do, but it
requires moving you and most or your furniture out of your house for about
a week. Buyers, upon closing, usually want/need to move into their new
home right away and don’t want to wait the extra week for caring for floors.
Replacing carpets is essential and instantly cleans up any high traffic areas
to provide a clean palette for the staging furniture. Stained or worn carpets
make the home seem “tired” and conjure ideas in the buyer’s mind of the
cleanliness of the people living there. It is always best to make your home
seem as new as possible, as if nobody has ever lived there before.
The Details
As simple as it may sound, replacing old hardware on doors (hinges and
handles) with current finishes of hardware makes a huge impact. Walking
through a home littered with dated brass fixtures reminds the buyer of
everything they will have to change in future. Change out outlet cover plates
that don’t match or that are discolored and make sure they are all the same.
Paint your front door. Change your house numbers. Update your mailbox.
Every one of these details, however simple, will create a finished, polished
look to your home.
Lighting Fixures
Another relatively inexpensive, yet very effective, way to update your home
is to change out any lighting fixtures that don’t match the style of the home.
Keep in mind your target audience, review the style of your home, then buy
and install fixtures that the audience would find attractive or desirable. It’s
not necessary to spend a fortune on lighting, but it is critical that you don’t
buy the cheapest fixtures from the hardware store – it will show!
Replace Appliances, if needed
Matching appliances will give your kitchen a more seamless look and feel,
especially if they are current models that are still in style. More expensive
homes will require thought about the brand, function, and popularity of the
appliances, but most homes will benefit from mid-range appliances that look
new and appeal to your target audience.
Landscape Curb Appeal
First impressions are everything when selling your home and this applies to
your front landscaping. Well-manicured plants, shrubs, and lawns will give an
instant impression that the home has also been cared for throughout your
ownership. New plantings, including brightly colored flowers or shrubs, will
give a fresh, clean feeling to the yard and will welcome buyers into your
home. Once the landscaping is complete, a new layer of mulch/bark will give
a “finished” look to the surroundings and brighten the entire landscape. If time
and budget permit, do the same for the back yard; anything you do in advance
to make your home look effortless to a new buyer will produce a higher sales
price.
As you can see there are many things you can do to improve your chances of
getting the highest price for your home, some of which are listed above and
in the previous article. As the list price of the home increases, so does the
amount you will need to spend to get ready for sale. In most instances you will
more than recoup the money invested, but it is essential to spend wisely, and
choose your real estate adviser carefully.
For further information about preparing your home, or for information on luxury preparation, visit www.650pro.com or www.dreyfusproperties.com
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