10 Ways/Tips to Make Your House More Salable

May 3, 2007

This is basic advice, but is often not completed by todays sellers.

The tasks below should be done in advance of staging. Contrary to common thoughts, this is not home staging, this is how you prepare a home for staging, and needs to be done in conjunction with staging. Unfortunatly most sellers think that these tasks are at the core of a home staging.

Those that know better and combine these tasks with professional home staging are the serious and successfull sellers in todays market.

Get the home ready for staging and you have set your home apart from the majority of jaded sellers. If your seller is not prepared to complete the following basic tasks, it will be difficult sell. It will be impossible to align selling the home with their expectations of the home sale transaction - sold for the most money in the fastest time.

Real estate constultants, it is your responsibility to communicate the need for the completion of the outlined tasks and to educate them on the mutual benefits of staging to ensure that they sell the home, rather than enter into the price reduction cycle, which is all too often ends with the dredded expired listing syndrome.

1. Get rid of clutter. Throw out or file stacks of newspapers and magazines. Pack away most of your small decorative items. Store out-of-season clothing to make closets seem roomier. Clean out the garage.

2. Wash your windows and screens to let more light into the interior.

3. Keep everything extra clean. Wash fingerprints from light switch plates. Mop/wax floors. Clean the stove and refrigerator. A clean house makes a better first impression and shows buyers that the home has been well cared for.

4. Get rid of smells. Clean carpeting and drapes to eliminate cooking odors, smoke, and pet smells. Open the windows.

5. Put higher wattage bulbs in light sockets to make rooms seem brighter, especially basements and other dark areas/rooms. Replace any burnt-out bulbs.

6. Make minor repairs that can create a bad impression. Small problems such as sticky doors, torn screens, cracked caulking, or a dripping faucet may seem trivial, but they’ll give buyers the impression that the house isn’t well maintained.

7. Tidy your yard. Cut the grass, rake the leaves, trim the bushes, and edge the walks. Put a pot or two of bright flowers near the entryway.

8. Patch holes in your driveway and re-apply sealant, if applicable.

9. Clean your gutters.

10. Polish your front doorknob and door numbers.

(List of tasks is borrowed from the Realtor Association website 2007)

Posted by admin | Filed Under Staging Tips