Tips for Getting Your Home Ready to Sell

This is the year, we will be selling our Florida condominium and buying a house.  This means it is time to get my condominium looking its best!  That is really what home staging is all about, making your home look as good as it can, and making it look like the place that buyers can see themselves living in.

1.  Clean is the most important thing. Clean your house from top to bottom, and then clean it again.  Really!

2.  Kitchen countertops should be clean and appliance and knick knack free.

3.  Now that your kitchen counters are clean, add ONE decorative item, a potted orchid plant, a vase of flowers or a bowl of lemons.

4.  Fresh paint makes a big difference, go with a neutral, but not bright white, that is too sterile.

5.  Before you have your home painted, remove as much artwork from your walls as possible, leaving only a few strategic and non-controversial pieces.  Have the holes repaired before the walls are painted.

6.  Carpets should be cleaned and then freshly vacuumed before any showings.

7.  Bathrooms should look like you don’t use them.  Nothing on the counters, nothing on the floors except for a small bath mat or rug.  Showers and tubs should be spotless with no shampoo and shower gel bottles in view.  Hang clean towels on towel rods.

8.  If you have bathroom lighting with exposed bulbs, make sure all the bulbs are identical.  This is a little thing that makes it look like you care for and maintain your home.

9.  Buyers will look in your kitchen cupboards.  Clean and organize them, take excess dishes out and put them in storage.  Leave one set of matching dishes, the rest will have to packed anyway, so get a head start on it.

10. Take a critical look at your furniture.  Can you remove one quarter of it?  Streamline the look in your home by removing some of your excess furniture.  This will make your rooms immediately look bigger.

11.  Clothes closets are another place to remove excess.  Clean your closets, make sure if you have lighting in your closets you are using the brightest fixtures available.  Remove as much excess clothing as possible to make your closets look larger and full of available storage space.

12.  Have your windows washed, inside and out.  Once again, a home that appears clean and well-cared for makes your buyers confident that you have lovingly cared for this home.

13.  Now that your windows are sparkling clean, open your blinds and curtains and let the sunshine in.

14.  Consider having a good (but critical) friend go through your house with you pointing out anything that he/she sees that could be a hinderance to a sale.  (Don’t take it personally, the goal of the exercise is to have your house in the best possible condition to sell.)

14.  Don’t forget the curb appeal.  Mow the lawn, clean sidewalks and driveways.  Fresh mulch can make ordinary landscaping look new and professional.

15.  Before any showings, make sure every trash can in your house is emptied. 

16.  A standard rule is to remove any personal photos and mementos.  Let buyers picture themselves in the house, not you.

17.  Make sure every room has a singular purpose.  The guest room serving as a home office should be reorganized and displayed as a welcoming guest room.

18.  Need ideas on how your rooms should look?  Flip through some home decorating magazines or visit Houzz online to get inspired.

Best of luck selling your home, I was thrilled to meet with my realtor this past week and she told me on a scale of 1 -10 my home looked like a 12!  All of my preparation and hard work is already paying off.  The painters have been scheduled, and then the window washers will come.  I have packed up so many things that I won’t be needing in the near future and put them into a rented storage unit.  I am so excited for this next phase of my life, and I look forward to sharing the adventure with all of you!

I’ll be sharing this at the following link parties:  Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop