In Real Estate, we only get one first impression. This is why preparing your home is crucial before listing it for sale. We have come up with a list of the top 10 must-do's before listing your home, and we work with our clients to help them knock every item off this list to ensure the quickest sale, for the highest price. Of course, there will be specific situations where additional items are needed, but this is a great first start. If there is anything you have questions on, need clarification on, or would like our expertise, please do not hesitate to reach out. We look forward to helping you with all your real estate needs!
Curb Appeal
This is the first thing people see when they pull up to your home. You want it to feel inviting, not overgrown and unkept. Pull the weeds, trim the trees, refresh your porch and driveway, and make the buyers feel like it's a home they'll like their guests to pull up to. A great curb appeal will affect how the buyers perceive the rest of the home.
Paint the Home 1 Neutral Color
Although you spent a lot of time matching colors to certain room themes, you want to give the buyers a blank canvas so that they can envision their furniture and decor in your home. Painting the home a neutral color will also brighten up the spaces, making it feel "newer," without breaking the bank.
Clean!
Entering the clean home as a buyer will make them feel like a home has been better maintained. Also, a buyer will walk through a home focusing on the rooms and the flow of the home, rather than all the dog hair that's clumped up on each stair. Make sure you do a deep clean of everything - from bathrooms to ovens, and if you have carpets, please deep clean them as well. A fresh carpet with no distinct smell will make a big difference. Also make sure to clean for showings or open houses, maintaining the clean will help keep it clean for last minute showings!
Declutter
Everything off the counters, everything off dressers except specific decor (described below in #6 Staging), closets organized, linens folded, shoes organized, etc! Too much storage where you can't see the closet space also isn't ideal, so making sure anything that will get thrown out or donated, is before the home begins showings would be ideal. It will show much better with less furniture and boxes, and the saying "less is more" is very relevant in this situation.
Renovations
If anything is broken, very old, out of style, and you have the extra capital to put a little something into the space, it will make a big difference in photos and showings. Most people do not want to move in and take on a project to update a kitchen, bathroom or floors. The more you are able to do, the higher your selling power. At Loncar Realty, we help clients put their capital in the most relevant spaces to ensure a better chance at selling their home.
Staging
Staging has proven to be one of the most powerful antics to help sell a home. When a room has a well thought out space with furniture colors and styles that are neutral enough to appeal to most, it enables buyers to fall in love with the space while also trying to envision their life in it. At Loncar Realty, we use various staging techniques to add certain aspects to the photos and for showings, which will help represent the space well. From linens to paintings and plants, we think of every room.
Professional Photos
If you are working with an agent who insists on taking iPhone photos themselves, please call us to list your home. We work with one of the best photographers in the industry to help bring your space to life. Our photographer captures your home's best angles in the best light, to ensure a captivating impression when people click through the photos online. Professional photos are a MUST, and it could be the sole deciding factor between someone choosing to come to an in person showing, vs. thinking a certain space isn't big enough or doesn't get enough light.
Luxury Marketing
Your Agent should have a marketing plan developed for your property - how will it be advertised, what language is being used to best depict your home, how many flyers are being sent to how many brokers, etc. These are all key things in how a property is being represented to the public, and working with an agent that has an elegant way of doing it will help drive the sale home.
Remove Personal Items
Although your family photos are absolutely beautiful and meaningful, we recommend to our clients to remove all personal items. When a buyer walks through the home, often they want to figure out how their life will fit within that space, not how the current family that lives there looks, lives, acts, etc. Depersonalizing a space will help others actually personalize it while they are attending a showing or open house.
Be Flexible
We know that the time between deciding to list your home and closing day is full of a lot of different emotions. When a home is occupied during the listing, we try to ensure that other agents request showings with over 24 hours notice. It is highly unlikely that a home is 100% show ready 100% of the time while a whole family lives there! But, we do not recommend that sellers turning away showings. Telling someone "can they come another day," may be the deciding factor between them acting on another home they saw that night. Being flexible during this time will best increase your chances to sell your home, and at Loncar Realty, we work with you to be very communicative, available 24/7, and helpful at every step of the way.
As mentioned above, this may not be the full list of everything that needs to be done to prep your home for the sale, but it is a great start! Doing these 10 items prior to listing will help put your mind at ease, and start the process "on the right foot." At Loncar Realty, we do everything we can to ensure these 10 items are not stressful for you as sellers, and we look forward to helping your list your home.
Please contact us with any questions at Brandon@LoncarRealty.com or Gabriela@LoncarRealty.com
- L | R