The Ultimate Guide to Preparing your Home for Sale

Preparing your home for sale can be very frustrating. For starters, it’s quite obvious that you will need to prepare your house and your family by knowing the things to do when selling a house. No doubt, it’s not going to be easy. It will take some time to get your home ready for the real estate market.

This is why we’ve compiled the ultimate preparing your home for sale checklist. We will be covering all the essential tips for getting your home ready for sale.

This guide will provide you with the perfect opportunity to attend to all the fixes. So, let’s get started.

First and foremost, make a list of things to do before putting your home up for sale and start as soon as possible.

1. Fix minor repairs

Repairing most of the broken or damaged stuff before selling a house will put more money in your pocket. It will increase the value of your home.

Keep in mind that buyers often look for homes that require few repairs. Try your best to focus on the most important repairs to make before selling a house.

A house that needs a lot of fixing will give the buyer an advantage to negotiate a lower price. So, you need to ask yourself this question, “what repairs do I need to make before I sell my house?”

Cheap fixes to sell a house

• Faulty Wiring: Replace all the outdated or faulty wiring systems in your home.
• Kitchen: Make sure that all the electronic appliances are functioning properly. If they’re too old or damaged, buy new ones. Cabinets and drawers should be checked for any broken knobs or loose hinges.
• Bathrooms: Be prepared to keep your bathroom looking spotless. Fix broken sinks, bathtubs, and showers.
• Lighting: Make sure every single light bulb and switch works. You might even want to up the wattage to make everything look bright.
• Drainage: Clogged downspouts and gutters that don’t direct water away from the house can really take a toll on your home. This could be fixed with something as simple as cleaning your gutters and adding gutter screens to prevent clogs.

2. Declutter

Decluttering your home will make it look more spacious to buyers. We will guide you through the process of decluttering your home in one day.

Your bedroom, basement, or garage might be packed with stuff. Our closets are full, we have things stuffed under our beds, and the counters are full of extra items. Go through room by room and rank the things you are going to keep or sell. This will maximize the space in your home.

Donate everything you can. Keep family heirlooms and keepsakes organized for a while. Give things to your family and friends. Hold a garage sale.

Tidying up your home will go a long way in attracting potential buyers. People generally look for a spacious home that gives them more to adapt.

So, follow these decluttering strategies and you’re good to go.

3.Depersonalize

When you’re preparing your home for sale, depersonalizing is one of the most essential steps in the house staging tips. It creates a welcoming atmosphere for potential buyers. It will set the stage to get your home ready for sale.

If your home has wall treatments such as upholstery, wallpaper, or stencils that have not been updated within the last five to seven years, it is advisable that you remove or replace them.

Remove your personal items and freeing more space while still trying to make it feel warm and inviting. If you’ve got pictures of people or pets, storing them while your house is on the market is a good way to help buyers picture themselves in their would-be homes.

4. Use touch up paint

When you’re living in a place, the paint can become something you really don’t look at closely anymore.

Out of all the renovations that need to be done, touch-up paint for walls is one of the most important ones. You’d be surprised at how a new coat of paint can renew your home.  Before starting the painting, be sure to give your walls and baseboards a deep cleaning. This may highlight the areas that need attention and limit the amount of work needed at the same time.

Applying a fresh coat of bold colors is one of the cheapest ways to freshen up your home and make the kind of first impression that will motivate a buyer to make a deal with you.

Touching up paint is easy if you know the right process to follow.

Check to see if the walls are in poor condition. If they’re not, touching up the worn areas may be sufficient to spruce up the home’s appearance. Repaint the entire room only when necessary.

5. Curb appeal

Remember to also enhance the curb appeal of your home when organizing the home.

Curb appeal is crucial to a lasting and positive first impression. If your home doesn’t look clean, it can put a sour taste in the buyer’s mouth. Potential buyers want to see that a home is well maintained. If your lawn is well maintained, it indicates that you are proud of your property.

After years of blizzards and storms, cleaning and maintaining your exterior is a must. One way to know if your home is attractive is to cross the street and take a good look at it. Where did your eyes go? They must be drawn towards the entrance. If not, something must be done.

Your curb appeal should start with the condition of the grass and landscaping near the front of the property. The fix can be as easy as planting a seed and watering the yard for a few weeks. Overgrown bushes should also be trimmed or removed.

Make your front door more welcoming for guests when you paint it and make it the most appealing feature of your home. You could also add a decorative street lamp or an attractive light fixture to a front porch. This will help improve evening curb appeal.

All of these things can have a huge impact on your sales price.

6. Home staging

Staging a home is an extremely important part of the sales process. This is a decorating method meant to showcase your home’s most notable features and help buyers imagine moving.

Homes that are staged tend to sell faster and for more money. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey, 49% of buyers believe that staging affects the vision of the majority of home buyers. And 77% of them say it’s easier for people to envision an organized home like theirs.

7. Hide valuables

When we put our home up for sale, we pay so much attention to cleaning the counters and floors, painting the walls, and baking fresh cookies.

But first, take precautions to protect your stuff and yourself.

• Make sure to keep your jewelry, cash, and other valuables secured. If you don’t have a safe that you can store them in, you may want to buy a locking box that can be hidden away easily.
• Don’t keep extra keys or remotes in plain sight.
• Hide your gadgets in non-obvious places.
• Keep your passwords Out of Sight (WiFi, bank accounts, etc.)
• Hide your meds. After all, they could turn out to be prescription drug abusers, sneaking in to get a dose.

8. Hire a professional photographer

With more and more buyers searching online for properties for sale, high-quality real estate photos are more important than ever. Real estate photography isn’t really the do-it-yourself type. Images that look unprofessional can seriously dampen the interest of potential buyers.

A professional photographer can bring out the best features in your home by controlling the angles and lighting. You can be sure that the photos will be of exceptional quality and show the best features of your home. It will also save you from wasting your time.

Taking photos on your own can be time-consuming. Additionally, studies show that listings that contain photos taken by professional real estate photographers sell 50% faster compared to listings without professional photography.

9. Erase evidence of pets

Not everyone is an animal lover. Selling a home with pets can be a daunting task. It is important to erase all traces of pet inhabitants as much as possible.

Objects accompanying animals should be placed out of sight. This means food bowls, cat litter boxes, pet food bags, their beds, etc.

Look for chewed toys under furniture, random animal blankets around the house, and feces in the yard or around the property. Whatever you decide, selling a home with pets is worth the extra effort to make it attractive to a wide range of potential buyers.

10. Have your home inspected

Many of the things that make a buyer walk away are things that could easily be avoided if you prepare for a home inspection properly. The inspector’s job is to find defects and defects he will find. A home inspection will almost always discover some issues that need immediate attention.

Sellers should have their homes inspected way before they even put them on the market. They will know in advance if there is anything in their home that needs fixing before a buyer catches the problem. They will also get an idea about the concessions a buyer might request

11. Rent a storage unit

It’s worth putting some items into a storage unit before selling. Storage units offer short- and long-term options for keeping home goods secure.

Get rid of items you don’t use and keep the rest in storage units. Just make sure you choose the right type of unit.

Freeing space in your home will provide room for potential buyers to see themselves and their possessions adorning walls and shelves in your home.

12. Call a handyman

Having a handyman on speed dial can smooth out the process of prepping for showings and inspections. A handyman will handle a wide range of repairs. Their rates are usually lower than general contractors.

They will help you ensure that everything that needs to be fixed has been well taken care of before listing your home.

13. Selling your house

It’s time to close on selling your house, so make sure you have everything you need to keep the process moving.

You probably won’t need to do absolutely everything on this list. But almost all of the above items are important considerations to tackle before selling your house. Scratch each one off your list for better results.

Follow these tips for selling your home at a great price. Falaya is here to support you on this journey. Our flat fee broker program will give you more control over the entire selling process. From pricing your home and scheduling showings to determining if you want an open house and negotiating a deal and inspections, when you sell your home on your own or with limited agent support, you will have the chance to make up your own rules plus you get to keep more money in your pocket. Good luck!

It’s time to close on the sale of your home, so make sure you have everything you need to move the process forward.

You probably don’t need to do absolutely everything on this list. But most of the above are important considerations to keep in mind before selling your home. Remove each of them from your list for best results.

Follow these tips to sell your home cheaply. Falaya is here to accompany you on this journey. Our flat-fee brokerage program will give you more control over the entire sales process. From pricing your home and scheduling visits to determining if you want an open house and negotiating a deal and inspections, when you sell your home on your own or with the support of a limited agent, you have the option of creating your own rules and you can have more money in your pocket. Good luck!