Expert Advice: Preparing Your Home To Sell

If you’re thinking about moving up, downsizing, or changing neighborhoods, this year would be a good time to sell your home.

Here are four reasons no matter the year it is the right time:

• New buyers are always entering the market.

• You have high equity.

• There's no telling what the next year holds.

For those who have never sold a home or need a refresher, we’ve got a few tips to help you prepare. While half of the factors in determining your home’s list price are out of your control, location, and market, there are two factors that you do have control over, condition and motivation.  

The condition of your home affects the price and the number of days on the market. The old adage of “You only have one chance to make a first impression” applies here. Before you think about staging your home, you need to work on its condition. 

Condition

Condition encompasses general upkeep, the life expectancy of major systems, curb appeal, decor, age, quality, and presentation. Improving the condition of your home doesn’t have to mean a brand-new kitchen. Here are three small things you can do that will improve how the buyer perceives the condition.

Box Up & Ship Out

Buyers will have an emotional reaction to your home within 15 seconds of entering it. Put yourself in their shoes, perhaps with a friend or agent that can give an outside perspective. As a general rule, unless you are a minimalist, you’ll need to box up and donate/toss/store (off-site) a quarter of the things in your house and in your yards. We’re not just talking about getting rid of your hotel-size shampoo bottle collection. We sometimes suggest getting rid of small furniture and decor. Your home should end up looking half-empty to you, but it will look half-full to a buyer.

Repair

Living in your home means getting comfortable and letting the little imperfections melt into the background. Now it’s time to bring them to the foreground. That peeling caulk you almost don’t see anymore, the missing handle on the closet door, the light switch that hasn’t worked in years. It’s time to get it all fixed. Give yourself a punch list of things to repair with deadlines and see what you can manage. We have PHG-preferred contractors if you need any recommendations! Email us and we will pass along their contact info.

Neutralize

While every home is different, listings with neutral walls and minimal personalized items generally sell quicker than homes with distracting personal bric-a-brac everywhere. Eliminating all the special things that make it YOUR home will allow buyers to imagine that it’s THEIR home. Aside from physically neutralizing your space, don’t forget to neutralize odors—pets, food, stinky sneakers in the mudroom, and synthetic scents like melon-flavored plug-ins. Again, getting an outside perspective will help you find the smells that you’ve become nose-blind to.

Motivation

How eager are you to move? Are you just tossing around the idea of selling to see what you can get or do you need funds ASAP? These are questions we ask our clients to help determine which pricing strategy to use when listing your home. 

Regardless of your motivation, emotionally preparing to let go of your house can make the selling process smoother. Strangers opening up every closet and cupboard in your home may leave you feeling exposed. One way to avoid that is to truly take preparation seriously. Staging the inside of your closets and cupboards as if they didn’t have doors is one way to prepare for exposure. Assume everyone will open everything and will be leaving you feedback about all of it. If you’re not emotionally ready to let go of your home, wait! Sellers that are not ready are quick to back out of a deal over something that can easily be worked out. Emotionally preparing yourself will save you stress, time, and worst of all, exposure to lawsuits.  

Before, during, and after these preparation steps, PHG agents are ready to be your in-market leader, expert negotiator, fiduciary advocate, and overall guide through this process. If you’re curious about your home’s value, or interested in learning about the home selling process or the market forecast, we’d love to set up a chat to answer all your questions.