How to Prepare Your House to Sell for More
May 6, 2010
Preparing your house for sale can be a daunting task. When you’re selling your home, there are things about your house you might not notice or mind that can make a big difference with potential buyers. Even if these fixes or improvements seem small by themselves, taken as a whole they can have an impact on how much you can sell your house for.
We’re thinking about putting our house on the market and a realtor gave us some tips for preparing and staging our house that have been shown to result in higher sale prices.
Curb Appeal
- Trim your trees & shrubs
- Plant seasonal flowers
- Weed flower beds
- Put out fresh mulch
- Paint your front door
- Keep your porch clean
Cleaning Your House
- Clean the carpets & then keep them vaccumed
- Polish or wax wood/vinyl floors & then keep them swept
- Wash all your windows
- Clean your light fixtures
- Replace the bulbs with higher watt bulbs
-
Clean out fireplace ashes
House Smell
- Air out your house for cigarette or dirty diaper smells
- Keep a candle burning
- Get the pets out when showing
Decluttering Your House
- Clean out your closets
- Organize your drawers & cabinets
- Don’t have things lying on the floor
- Clear out piled-high shelves
- Overcrowded with furniture
- If limited kitchen counter space, keep it clear
- Keep kids toys out of front yard and off porch
Bathrooms & Kitchens
- Keep bathtub, shower, & sinks sparkling
- Caulk and Grout tubs and tile
- Fix any leaks in your faucets
Upgrading Your House
These are tips that aren’t necessarily required and will cost you money but can also make a big difference when selling your house.
- Remove old wallpaper in the bathroom, kitchen, or entry
- Replace outdated light fixtures
- Where needed, paint the interior and exterior
- Install new appliances
If you’re selling your home, hopefully some or all of these tips will help you get a better price.
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Selling your house is daunting but all of your tips are right on the nose. There’s no magic bullet or insurance that your house will sell if you do all of these things but it helps tremendously. It can be stressful to keep up in this way but it makes a big difference.
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they also say to remove any personal items like pictures of family or friends. this way the potential buyer can picture themselves in the place much easier.
Great tips! We’re getting ready to put our house on the market so this post came along just at the right time.
Good point James, thanks for the tip!
Hey Mike, I’m glad they’re helpful. Good luck selling your house!
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