Selling your house takes patience. It also takes a few good de-cluttering days, rearranging furniture, a coat of paint and clean floors. If you have lived in your house for a while, chances are you have some clutter. Even those who profess they are minimalists, will have some clutter somewhere in their house, it's almost inevitable if you actually live in the house!
I have been really lucky with the home sellers that I have worked with. (Ugh, so hate to end a sentence with a preposition, but I could not avoid it this time!) I sold two houses for one couple and both times we got feedback on what great staging we had in the homes. We didn't have a home stager nor did I ever have to make ONE suggestion about how to showcase these houses. The seller just knew how to prepare a home for a showing. She would vacuum, light candles, turn on music, open blinds and turn on all the lights and turn the water feature on the pool prior to potential buyers arrival. She had very tasteful home decor, no clutter (not even in linen closets, the pantry or kids rooms) and her houses sold. One house sold for more than the appraised value! No thanks to me, but they knew what they were doing! These particular home owners are super, super clean. I am sure if I stopped by their house right now, unannounced that it would be "show" ready. Here are some tips that I learned from these sellers:
1. Remove all Clutter
The biggest culprit of clutter that I notice is mail and kids homework/artwork:
Put your items in a covered box, get a cute decorated box from Michael's or Hobby Lobby and throw mail in there until you have time to sort your piles. Make cute labels and name the boxes: Mail Inbox, Kids Artwork or whatever you want, but the point is to get rid of want you don't need and contain/organize the stuff you do need. These are the type of boxes I am referring to:
Decorative boxes If you find that this is just too big of a task for you, there are professional organizers who will can do this work for you.
2. Clean Windows, Inside and Out
Believe it or not, the windows looks so much better when there isn't any dust on them. We live in Arizona and there is a fine layer of dust on everything all the time, so it is wise to clean your windows (inside and outside) right before your house is listed for sale. If you have pets or kids (or both haha) clean your sliding glass doors for your listing pictures and before potential buyers visit.
3. Clean All Flooring
If the carpet hasn't been shampooed professionally in a while, I highly suggest getting this done. Even if your carpet is builder grade carpet, it will clean up well when done professionally. If your carpet is torn or worn you will want to replace it before selling as well. I have tried to sell a home and offered a "carpet allowance" and all of the feedback on the property was "need new carpet." This might have been unique to the area because so many investor flips were being sold at the time, but nonetheless, the carpet had to be replaced even before the house could be rented.
In addition to carpet, if your house is predominantly tile, get a tile person in there to clean grout and seal the grout if need be. These small investments will help you get your house sold. Buyer's will eventually make the house their own, but they want to be able to move in without having do to major demolition right away. So, the cleaner the better. Make sure your baseboards are without dust and possibly put another coat of paint on them so they pop!
4. Make Beds
Believe it or not, there are times I show a house and the beds are not made. These are the times that I know the seller could care less if their house sold or not. Your rooms do not have to look like a "Homes and Garden" magazine, but just the basic things like making a bed can really improve first impressions.
5. Laundry
OHH EMMM GEE. I can not say enough about laundry. If you are a home seller and are always doing laundry or on the flip side, never doing laundry, find a way to keep it contained. I kid you not, there was a house I was showing to a client and as I am walking through the house, I had to casually kick clothes out of the way to make a walking path. I am not sure, but can pretty much guarantee that this wasn't clean laundry. And to top the situation off, this was a house that I had to make an appointment to see, so it wasn't like I called the owner and asked to stop in as I was driving by. It's one of the times that I felt like I needed to run home, shower and start my day over. If I felt that way, you know my client did too! ( So yah, we didn't put an offer on that house!)
6. Home Decor
I have heard real estate agents tell clients to remove all personal pictures from shelves and walls before the list their house. I have mixed feelings on this tip. I think if you have minimal items on the wall and personal photos are the decor, than it is fine to display the pictures. I think this all goes back to clutter. If you have a ton of small framed pictures all over the house, I might suggest putting those in a box while you have people going through your house. What if you can't judge if you have too much stuff on the walls or it doesn't match? First, ask your real estate agent. He/she sees enough homes to tell how potential buyer may react. Even if you prefer a shabby chic decor an the house you are walking through is contemporary, as long as it done tastefully and the house is clean, it will sell!
7. Home Odors
You know how every house has it's own smell? If you haven't noticed, every house does; whether it is a pleasant smell or not is the difference. Some homes that you walk into will smell clean. Some smell like they just baked cookies and some just smell like the pets who occupy the house. Because I am so allergic to cats I can smell within nano seconds if a house I am showing has cats. It will be just a few minutes before I find the litter box, even if they use the super duper heavy duty fragrance free odor eliminator.
In addition to pets, real estate agents know unless it states the house is vacant that someone lives and cooks in the house. If you make salmon for instance, you might want to air your house our before the next showing. If you love to cook with garlic, you may want to make sure your house is aired out prior to showings so look into air odor neutralizers. These help tremendously.
Check out this link!
8. Miscellaneous Items
this is a category that had too many loose ends to post on their own section, so here is a list of items that you shouldn't overlook either:
- Face-plates around your on/off switches and electrical outlets (change these out so they are all the same color, not cracked or have paint on them)
- Put large unused furniture in the garage to give the illusion of more space in the house
- If your house needs a fresh coat of paint inside, paint it
- If you take nails out of the wall, fill them
- Do not keep dirty dishes out on the counter, put in dishwasher or put away
- It's ok to have folded laundry in a basket, but keep in laundry area.
- If you can keep the appliances to a minimum on the kitchen counters, do it. The less stuff the better the potential buyer can envision their stuff in that space
- Keep your back yard and front yard free of Fido's waste
Seriously, I could write a book on this topic! But, you get the drift, keep it simple, clean and clutter free and you will be on your way to a quick sale of your home. Listen to your real estate agent, you chose her/him for one reason so take their advice. They are truly only helping you achieve your goal of selling your home and moving on to your next big adventure. Not all real estate agents are great at staging homes, so hire a friend or a professional home-stager if you can't tell what to de-clutter or which furniture to move around. You will be amazed at the minimal investment and time it will take to do these items and you will sell your house faster and at a price that makes you feel good!
Until next time peeps....
Camille
*Disclaimer: I do not claim to be a professional writer nor am I am proficient in where to place commas, when to italicize (or is it appropriate to italicize or use parenthesis?) and that my sentences are grammatically correct. I am merely releasing all the thoughts that are in my brain and sharing them with you. If you enjoy my posts GREAT but I know they are written with many errors. Taking a creative writing class or a grammar class is next on my “to do” list. I promise. I also like to use double exclamation points!!!! (sometimes more than 2 and sometime a question mark and exclamation point!) I am NOT a licensed mortgage lender, property manager, credit expert, professional negotiator or anything of that nature.. This is strictly "good info" to know regarding Real Estate as I learn it on the job!
