19 Useful Tips to Help You Get Your House Ready For Sale

Are you concerned about preparing your house to sell? Most sellers are, so you are definitely not alone. However, the right tips can help you get on the right track towards successful showings and open houses with a home that potential buyers will love. 

Trying to prepare your house to sell definitely takes a lot of hard work and can be quite stressful. This is why we compiled the following 19 useful tips to prepare your home for sale. 

List your house at the right price

To get an overall idea of the best price for your house, search the local Zillow listings and look for properties that are similar to your home in terms of features, size, and location. This will provide a good ballpark estimate that you can use. 

Keep in mind that the faster you need to sell your home, the more competitively you will need to price it.

Work with a good realtor

Working with an informed realtor can provide you with useful services throughout the entire house selling process. 

They should monitor the MLS (multiple listing services) on a regular basis, know what the comps are for your neighborhood, and be aware of which properties are getting listed in the market. Good realtors will have local expertise and provide you with advantages when you are ready to get your house listed.

Have professional photos taken for your listing

With social media and the internet, your home’s first impression will probably take place online. Therefore, you want to make sure to set aside time to take some high-quality, beautiful photos of your staged home to go with your online listing.  

It is highly recommended that you have your images taken by a professional photographer since they will know which photos will work the best for selling your house.

Clean up your house for walkthroughs

Clean your house thoroughly, and then make sure it stays that way. Your kitchen and bathrooms should be impeccable, mop and dust, and wash the windows and walls until your house sells. 

A clean and spotless house will make a great first impression when prospective buyers walk through your door.

Declutter & Depersonalize

The more personal that your home is, the less that prospective buyers will be able to imagine living there. Eliminate a third of your belongings – if necessary, put it in a storage unit. 

Clutter includes keepsakes, travel items, collections, and family photos. It is difficult for a prospective buyer to imagine their belongings in your home when all of your things are cluttering up all the rooms.

Remove any polarizing items

These include religious and political memorabilia. When it comes to these kinds of things, many individuals have very strong feelings, and you don’t want your home pre-judged by buyers based on your religious and political beliefs. Putting those items in storage is the best solution.

Organize your closets

All buyers are searching for an area for storing all of their belongings. Take half of the items stored in your closets and place them in a storage unit. Then take whatever is left in your closets and neatly organize them so that your house’s storage space is highlighted.

Turn on all of the lights

A dark home is sad, so be sure to maximize the light inside your house. Take your drapes down, clean your windows, increase the wattage on the bulbs, and swap the lampshades. Do whatever you can to allow light to shine on your prospective buyers.

Make minor repairs

Change any burnt-out light bulbs, replace broken appliances, and patch any holes in your walls. Prospective buyers do not consider any problem to be too small. 

Even small issues can give the message that your house is not being taken care of properly. It can also indicate to a prospective buyer that there could be more expensive damage occurring – such as mold or water damage.

Move our pets out of your home

Not everyone loves animals. If a prospective buyer walks into your house and smells a litter box, spots a dog bowl, or has to pick animal hair off of their pants after attending your open house, they might think your home is not clean. 

Prospective buyers should not be able to tell that pets live in your house. Find another place for your pet on days you are planning on showing your house.

Eliminate bad odors

A good cleaning should eliminate bad smells. Even during the winter, open your window so your house can air out. 

To make your house smell good, bake something before your open house, or get a nice-smelling candle and light it. Make sure it is a subtle smell since anything overpowering might smell suspicious and look like you have something to hide.

Update your kitchen

The most important room in your house is probably the kitchen. Kitchens also cost the most to renovate. You can potentially achieve an eighty-five percent return by investing a couple of thousand dollars. On the other hand, an outdated kitchen can really impact your asking price. 

Repainting cabinets is one of the most inexpensive and fastest updates. A Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations Kit can be purchased for less than $100 from Home Depot and quickly update your cabinets so they look modern and bright, which will effectively increase the appeal of your kitchen without having to spend a fortune.

Apply a fresh coat of paint

Using neutral paint tones will look fresh and appeal to a broad range of tastes. Paint can also provide a dark room with light. Resist any urge of wanting to be bold (save that for your next house). If too much of your personality is inserted, that can be a bad thing. If you want to add a splash of color, use a flower vase or blanket.

Add some special touches

A new welcome mat, accent pillows, fresh flowers – those small touches can really raise the welcoming factor of your house and impress buyers. You also don’t need to go out of your way. Just add a couple of touches so your house feels cozier.

Always be prepared to show your house

Your home always needs to be “show ready” since you never know when a prospective buyer is going to walk through your front door. Your home should always be available so people can come over whenever they want to see your house. Clear away clutter immediately, keep your beds made and your dishes put away. It might seem very annoying, but it will help sell your house!

Leave your house

The ultimate depersonalization is to remove yourself. You want buyers to feel free to ask questions, inspect rooms, and open closets without having to feel like they are snooping. Before someone comes to your house for a showing, light a candle, turn all the lights on, open the window, and leave!

Improve your home’s curb appeal

Buyers start judging your house before they even walk through your door. You want them to feel safe, welcome, and warm as they walking up to your house. Conduct some inexpensive upgrades, like adding some colorful flowers to your landscaping, replace the mailbox, or add light fixtures.

Clean Your Carpets

If your house has carpet, you need to clean it before your house can be shown. It will improve the way your floors look and eliminate any bad smells that are locked inside your carpet. 

You can either hire professionals or rent a carpet cleaning machine to save money. Either way, your results will be obvious. It is a very big job to put your house for sale. 

If you need some help selling your home or have a couple of questions about the Real Estate Market , I can help you.