Are you getting ready to show your home to a potential buyer? If so, you might be amazed by the many little things you can do to help create a better impression of your home and actually make it possible for you to get more money from the sale. Even better, you don’t have to spend a great deal of money in order to make your home really stand out and get noticed by buyers. In fact, depending upon the condition of the home, you might not need to spend anything at all!
Clean and Straighten the Home
One of the simplest steps you can take to prepare your home for sale is to clean and organize the inside. A home that is grungy and grimy is going to instantly turn buyers off from your home. At the same time, a home that is cluttered feels cramped and small. As a result, the potential homebuyers will start to wonder if the home is big enough to suit their needs. The more open and clutter-free you can make the home, the better impression you will make on your potential buyers.
Always remember that having space is important to buyers. So, in addition to keeping the area clutter-free, you should also allow the potential buyer to enter rooms first. When you go into smaller rooms, such as the bathroom, stand at the door rather than going in. Otherwise, having everyone stand inside the bathroom will make it feel cramped and much smaller than it actually is.
Remove Personal Items
In order to turn a house into a home, you might spend years collecting items and displaying personal mementos such as photos and souvenirs. These little decorations are what make your home unique and special to you. When it comes to selling a house, however, potential buyers need to be able to envision themselves living in the house and making it their home. If your house is too personal, it makes it difficult for buyers to imagine living there.
In order to depersonalize the house, you should remove items such as:
Family photos
Trophies and awards
Souvenirs
Knick-knacks and collectibles
Artwork from your children
Any other décor that is personal in nature
Until the home is sold, keep these items in storage so you can improve your chances of selling the house quickly.
Generalize Your Rooms
When searching for a new house, most buyers are looking for basic rooms such as bedrooms and bathrooms. This means they aren’t looking for specialty rooms such as weight rooms, music rooms, sewing rooms, home offices, and other similar spaces. Therefore, if you transformed one of the bedrooms into one of these rooms, change it back to a bedroom while the house is on the market. If you have painted all of the walls black in order to create your own photo lab, it will make it difficult for the potential buyer to picture it as a bedroom.
Consider the Five Senses
When preparing for a house showing, you should keep the five senses in mind:
Sight
Smell
Taste
Hearing
Touch
Pay as much attention as you can to each of these senses and make sure they are all pleased by the state of your home. Some sellers use little tricks such as baking apple pies during showings. This helps warm up the home while also pleasing the sense of smell. You can then offer a slice to your guests in order to please their sense of taste as well!
In order to please the sense of sight, open up the shades and let the natural light flow inside. If you have pets, keep them out of sight during the showing and find ways to brighten up the home with color. Hanging flower baskets or vases filled with flowers inside can really help to cheer up a home.
To please the sense of hearing, you might play some soft background music as you show your guests around. Then, invite them to sit down on your most comfortable couch in order to spark their sense of touch.
With these simple tricks, you don’t have to spend a whole lot of money – you may not even have to spend a single cent – but it will sure go a long way toward impressing those that are interested in purchasing your house.
About the Author:
Greg Sullivan is the President of www.ByOwnerMLS.com, a For Sale By Owner MLS service, the leading real estate search engine of homes for sale by owner (FSBO). For more information, please visit www.byownermls.com.
