If you’ve recently decided it’s time to sell your house, you need your home to stand out among all the other homes listed in your community. Potential buyers have many options, so what can you do to ensure you sell your home quickly and for as close to your asking price as possible?
Good news is, getting your house ready to sell doesn’t necessarily have to be difficult. There are some simple, straightforward efforts you can make to appeal to potential buyers and sell your home fast.
Take the following tips into consideration to help your home rise to the top of the pack and watch your house sell in no time:
1. Boost Your Curb Appeal
Curb appeal matters a lot when it comes to getting your house ready to sell. The exterior of your home is the first thing that potential buyers will see on listing sites and when they drive up to your property in person. If the home doesn’t look appealing on the outside, a buyer probably won’t even look into it much further.
Amp up your home’s exterior appearance by planting flowers and trees, trim your shrubs, touch up exterior paint, sweep and spray down your front porch, refresh your mulch, keep your lawn mowed, edge your lawn, pressure wash your house and walkways, even wipe down your front door and kickplate, and wash your windows.
2. Ditch The Clutter
Once you get people past the front door, make sure their first impressions of the inside are good ones. All of your clutter should be put away out of sight. Bear in mind that buyers will look through cabinets and drawers, so if you need to, rent a temporary storage unit to store a good portion of your belongings so that your clutter is kept to a minimum while your house is on the market.
If every corner of your home is crammed with stuff, it can be distracting to potential buyers who will have a hard time seeing the beauty of the home for the many belongings kept within.
3. Getting Your House Ready To Sell Means Going Neutral
Make your home enticing to a wide audience by staying neutral. This means that your interior decor, furniture, and paint choices should reflect a neutral tone. If that means you need to re-paint a room or two in a light tan or grey color instead of deep purple, taking the time to do so will appeal to more people.
Avoid overly frilly or heavily patterned throw pillows, rugs, lamps, and knick-knacks. Keep the decor simple and minimal while your home is being shown.
4. Remove Yourself
As you’ve been living in your home, you’ve undoubtedly personalized the space where you and your family reside. Family pictures probably adorn your walls and bookshelves, or family name plaques might hang above doorways.
But once you start thinking, “it’s time to sell my house“, you’re getting ready to turn the keys over to another family. Potential buyers want to imagine themselves in the home, so aside from one or two family pictures, try to minimize your own personalized pieces.
5. Invest In Professional Cleaning
Cleanliness is a huge factor in getting your house ready to sell. Cleaning your home front top to bottom can take hours, especially if you do a thorough job. Instead, consider hiring a professional cleaning service to do a deep cleaning of each room.
Have your carpets shampooed, your baseboards cleaned, your grout scrubbed, and your kitchen detailed to perfection. The investment will be worth it. Buyers want to buy a home that is immaculate. Any hints of another person’s dirt and grime is going to put off a lot of buyers.
6. Make Updates And Seek Interior Design Assistance
If your guest bathroom is still decked out in decades’ old wallpaper or if your kitchen cabinets are outdated and damaged, now is the time for an update. Getting your house ready to sell often means paying for updates that will help your home stand out in a competitive market.
Even simple changes like new shower curtains, new light fixtures, modern hardware on drawers and cabinets, and new, clean rugs can make a huge difference in how your home gets perceived.
Get expert interior design advice and direction to take your home to the next level and increase your chances of getting a good offer. An interior designer can direct you on the best updates for your money.
7. Make Necessary Repairs
Along with updates comes a need to make all the repairs that have been hanging over your head for years. Before you list your home, fix the leaky sink, patch the holes in the wall, replace the window screens with holes in them, and so on.
Buyers will notice these issues and become hindered by the thought of taking on extra work should they buy your home.
8. Brighten Your Home
Poorly lit homes aren’t welcoming to buyers who want to clearly see your space. Brighten up your home using both artificial and natural light sources in each room.
Use the highest wattage light bulbs for your light fixtures, keep your curtains and blinds open, and add new lamps where needed. Once again, a new coat of paint can make all the difference. A lighter shade of paint can brighten a room where natural light isn’t available.
Find Expert Help
Getting your house ready to sell can take a lot of hard work and consideration for what buyers want to see in their future home.
If you want to sell your home fast, we invite you to take a look at our interior design tips and home advice articles. We cover everything you need to know from landscaping ideas to paint colors to bathroom decor ideas to the best home upgrades for your money.
Be sure to check back regularly for lots of new content for improving both the inside and outside of your property, whether you’re planning on selling your home soon or live in your house for decades to come.