Month: April 2018

Every seller wants their home to sell quickly and for top dollar but believe a professional overhaul is needed to maximize their listing price. Because of this uncertainty, sellers often feel overwhelmed and don’t do anything before listing their home.

Spoiler: You don’t need a comprehensive overhaul… instead, its careful preparation and regular upkeep that sends home buyers scurrying for their checkbooks. Without further ado, here are the steps to prepare that irresistible, and highly marketable home:

 

1a) Dissociate Yourself with the Home

First and foremost, you have to distance yourself from the house. Yes, learning how to let go is difficult, but in order to capitalize on the most possible gains, you must say to yourself, “This is not my home; it is a house – a product to be sold no differently than a bushel of apples.”

 

1b) Objectify

The first step in disassociating yourself is to pack up those personal photographs and family heirlooms. You want buyers to imagine their own photos and mementos on the walls. The heart of the buy is constructed in the buyer’s mind, but these personal sentiments will not emerge if your personal belongings are sprawled all over the home. Simply put, you don’t want the mind of buyers to linger on who was living there; you want buyers to say, “I can see myself living here.”

 

2a) Minor Repairs

In some seller’s markets, you can sell a home in its current state without much objection. In normal markets or buyer’s markets, repairs can win or lose a sale.

So let’s looks at the essentials:

 Replace cracked floor or counter tiles.

 Patch holes in the walls.

 Fix leaky faucets.

 Amend jarring kitchen drawers.

 Replace burned-out light bulbs.

 Consider painting your walls neutral colors (You’re looking to attract the masses, not the exotic).

 

2b) Housekeeping

Cleaning your home should go beyond the usual weekly or day-to-day cleaning job. Like the maintenance work, this could take all day to complete so allocate your time appropriately. Consider doing a deep clean of each room including:

 Wash windows inside and out.

 Vacuum daily.

 Wax floors.

 Dust furniture, ceiling fan blades and light fixtures.

 Bleach dingy grout.

 Remove cobwebs.

 Re-caulk showers, sinks, and tubs.

 Polish chrome mirrors and faucets.

 Clean out the refrigerator.

 Replace worn rugs.

 Hang up fresh towels.

 Rent a pressure washer and spray down sidewalks and exterior.

 Bathroom towels look marvelous affixed with ribbon and bows.

Click here to view our professional housekeeping checklist!

 

3a) Don’t Assume Anywhere is Sacred

Buyers are… let’s say, curious. They will open closet and cabinet doors to examine every crack and crevice they’re drawn to. Think of the message it sends if miscellaneous supplies and are jam-packed in storage closets, cupboards, sheds, and garages; the buyer will instantly lose faith in you as an owner, and perhaps the home altogether. This is a huge commitment on their part. You need to be just as vigilant in preparing the home as they are with examining it.

 

3b) Input Equals Output

Even if you’re not a neat person, create the illusion: alphabetize spice jars, turn coffee cup handles the same way, hang shirts together (buttoned and facing the same direction), and line up shoes. This may sound extra and unnecessary, but buyer’s (and all human beings) cannot help but pick up on their immediate surroundings. Remember, the financially-sound Zestimate only gets them in the door, the image you create makes the buy.

 

We Get It, You Have a Life

If you work a full-time job or have similar daily obligations, tackling some of the easier projects on your own and outsourcing the rest to a company with maintenance and housekeeping packages may be worth the investment. In particular, consider a real estate company like Finger Lakes Premier Properties (FLPP) that not only have full-time maintenance and housekeeping staff to suit client’s needs any time of year. Not only will FLPP help revamp your home, every remodeling effort is carefully prepared through the lens of a prospective buyer; this is the perk of utilizing an all-in-one company.

 

Once again, if you’re feeling ambitious and want to tackle these projects on your own, hit up a couple YouTube videos and have at it! But if you need a little help, consider outsourcing some of the more tedious tasks to a specialist like FLPP.

To learn more about our property management services, visit FLPP’s webpage here

If you’re already past that step and ready to roll, contact our real estate team today at (844) 277-5709.