Its the little things that make the biggest difference in selling your home. You may only get one impression to get a potential buyer to come with a strong offer. Number 1 by a mile is clean, clean clean and then clean some more. Dirt and clutter turn of a buyer faster than anything else. No one wants to walk into a listing and immediately get hit with the it factor and have the buyer ask you “how could anyone live like this?”. Number 2 Let the sunshine in, brighten up your home it feels bigger. Number 3 closets, I don’t care if you need to fill your trunk of your car up with your stuff, I want half empty closets. Maybe it time to bring some of your clothes to Goodwill or pack some clothes in your suitcases, but nobody wants to see all your stuff spilling out into the room. Number 4 Pictures and art. Buyers don’t care that you love your kids, they are trying to picture their stuff on the walls and furniture, You may love you shrine to children’s art on the refrigerator but your buyer will not. Number 5 Straighten up your yard, mow and trim it every few days, remove the low hanging branches that keep buyers from seeing your house from the road. Curb appeal is very important. Number 6 Finish all the minor issues on your honey-do list. Have a bunch of broken switch and outlet covers, fix them. Have not finished painting the trim or doing the cut in work around the trim and ceiling, finish it. This all gives the buyers the impression that you have not maintained your home very well. Number 7 Animals, I love my dog but the buyers may not, a keeping your dogs in a crate in a spare bed room or the garage for showings will help put the buyers at ease in you house. As for cats, put them in one room, leave a sign on the door “don’t let cats out and please”, please clean the litter box. Smell makes a huge impression, and in this case a bad one. Number 8 Carpets, if they are not new, have them professionally cleaned, nothing dates a house like dirty carpet, if they are beyond cleaning replace with low end neutral carpet. Number 9 Reduce the amount of furniture, you want you house to flow, don’t think of it as what works for you and your family, think of a group of people trying to comfortably walk around and picture their couch and big screen. Number 10 Almost as important as number one, easy to show. The more buyers who can see your house, the faster you receive an offer, the greater chance of a strong offer. So If you are still living in the home request a supra lock box, and a courtesy call before showing. If you are already out, you want to be a show and go, I will say it most agents are lazy and will show the easy homes first. Your goal is to be one of those easy ones.
Couple quick tips, remove all your medicine from the house. Some buyers will walk off with you prescriptions. Lock away all guns, ammo, jewelry, collectibles