How to Prepare Your Real Estate for Sale

Posted by Tim_Ebl

April 2, 2008

If you want to improve your chances of selling your home in a short period of time and for fair market value, you may want to give some of these ideas a try to improve the first impression people get when they view it. Everyone knows that first impressions are really important, and you want prospective buyers to feel a ‘wow’ effect when they first arrive. From the street view, to the front hallway, to the attic and basement, it should give the impression of a well cared for home that won’t need a lot of repair or improvements.

Curb Appeal

Take a good look at your house from the street. Do you see overgrown shrubs and trees covering the windows and touching the side of the home? You might need to prune them or remove them. All windows should be clearly visible. Do you have tidy flower beds with no weeds? You might need new edging for the flower beds. Putting in fresh plants and flowers helps, even potted ones on the step.

Other outside first impressions will be of the front door, mailbox, and doorbell. Make sure these are ready to use, and even paint or replace the door. Purchase a new welcome mat.

Inside

Many of these suggestions are part of a good spring cleaning. Washing all the windows and cleaning the window trim, blinds and drapes is a must. Having the carpets steam cleaned is a good idea as well.

Clutter should be reduced or eliminated. This might mean cleaning all items off the floor, removing extra furniture to the garage or storage, putting away extra seasonal clothing such as winter boots, and throwing away or removing items that are not in use. It will hopefully be time to move soon in any case, and these things need to be done eventually.

The kitchen needs to be extra clean. The oven, behind the refrigerator, and the cupboards are some areas to concentrate on. Counter tops should be clean and not covered with cooking items.

Bathroom grout needs to be clean, and caulking should be redone if possible in the whole room. A new shower curtain is an inexpensive buy to improve the bathroom. Put out clean towels before viewings.

Storage areas such as closets and basement need to be uncluttered and as empty as possible. This might mean boxing items up and stacking them. It makes these spaces look much larger than if they were overflowing, and this way you will be ready to move as well.

As much as possible try to keep the beds made and dirty laundry out of sight, and make sure all the dirty dishes get taken care of as soon as possible.

After you have taken care of some of those items, new paint and blinds can make a huge difference. Try to use lighter colors, rather than dark or striking, to have universal appeal.

Good luck in selling your real estate. Remember to get the advice of an experienced real estate agent, and someone will fall in love with your well maintained house.

Tim Ebl owns property with a view of the Rocky Mountains. He enjoys working on home improvements and studies properties for sale in his area. For more helpful real estate articles check out http://alberta-real-estate.net/

Home Improvement