We sell real estate in Havertown Pa and you would be amazed at how many homes do not show well. Here we will guide you through the process of making your home look clean and uncluttered so potential buyers can envision themselves in your home.
1. Concentrate on one room a day cleaning and painting it if it needs paint. Nothing helps a home shine like fresh paint.It is cheap ( home depot sells Glidden paint for $17 a gallon) and gets you a good return. Clean and dust throughly. Put some polish or refinisher on the wood floors and shampoo the carpets.
2. Remove all the clutter in a room. Put away all those personal pictures and clear the tables of all but a couple things. Remove one piece of furniture from a room and rearrange the furniture to maximize it's space. Open the window treatments to let in the light and have the lights on for showings.
3. Rent a storage unit and box up all the extra things you have in the cupboards, closets, basement and attic. Box up half the things in your closets so buyers will be impressed with your closet space. You want your basement, attic, and garage almost empty. Leave a few things to have a theme for each room. e.g. If your basement is unfinished clear it out. Paint the walls and floor and have a couple pieces of exercise equipment ( yes you will have to stop using them to dry clothes on ) with a small table with some bottled water on it and a few towels and a small rug or exercise mat. You have changed your dark, drab basement into an excercise room that the buyers can appreciate. Have just a few things in the attic to show all the space available to store things. Have the garage cleaned out and perhaps a small workbench with a few tools on a pegboard to show it as your workspace.
4. The front of your home is very important. That is the first thing buyers see. Replace or paint that old wooden door. Paint all your exterior wood around the door. Have some lights lining the path to your home with some flowers. Keep the flowers spaced out and remove or trim down large bushes close to the home.
Nothing dates a home like those huge evergreen type bushes or trees blocking the view of the home. Freshly mulch and clean up the whole time you are showing.
5. Walk around your home like an inspector would looking for defects. Fix all the small things you have been living with and have a professional look at the big defects. You want to show the inspector and buyer this is a well cared for home. The imperfections are not going to go away so be proactive and deal with them early.
6. Have your dog out of the home for showings. Some buyers are fearful of dogs and will not even come in if one is loose in the home. Nothing ruins a showing more than a noisy dog barking in a cage or back yard while you are looking at a home.
7. Have pictures of your garden on display as well as a flyer depicting all the strong points. Have a neighborhood book about the schools, local organiations, parks, playgrounds, etc on the table.
8.Most buyers are looking for a home on the web so make sure your home is listed in the realtor's multiple listing service, realtor.com, the realtor's company and personal website, zillow.com and maybe craig's list. Have some broker's opens for realtors and public opens and advertise them both on the web and with direct mailings. You are trying to get the word out and the first couple weeks of advertising are very important.
9. Most importantly price your home reasonably. Do not be the highest priced home in the neighborhood. Look at the comps for the homes on the market but more importantly look at the settled comps to see what sellers are actually getting. It is better to be a moderately priced home on a great street then the highest priced home on a weaker street. Look at the competition. Have your realtor take you out to a few homes in the price range you want to be and frankly break down your home in comparison to those. Go to the open houses in your neighborhood to get tips on showing and marketing materials.
Follow these guidlines and you will vastly improve the chances of selling your home. No one wants to be sitting on the market for a year. Put some effort and a small amount of money into your home and sell it and move on with your life.
Please contact me or my wife and partner Deborah if we can guide you through this process. It is a no obligation contact. We would be happy to help you with your showings.
No comments:
Post a Comment