A buyer has to be able to picture their life in your home.
Don't lose a house sale over your personal stuff! Remove these distractions:
- Step 1: Tackle your closets
- Step 2: Arrange Your Closets
- Step 3: Take your home out of your house!
- Step 4: Limit peronsal pictures
- Step 5: Light sells so let it in!
- Step 6: Fix the minor stuff!
- Step 7: Are you feeling ambitious? - Paint!
- Step 8: Clean Everything!
- We have something in common already!
Step 1: Tackle your closets:
Empty your closets by 1/2. Buyers need to see the space they’re getting in the closets. When your closet is stuffed, most buyers can’t picture the space. Buyers need to see that there’s room for their clothes!
Step 2: Arrange your closets:
Remaining clothes should be arranged neatly on hangers (i.e. shirts with shirts, jackets with jackets.) If you want to go one step further, you can also arrange by color. Neatly arranged clothes gives the appearance of more room even if the closet is small.
Step 3: Take your home out of your house:
We all get entrenched in our homes. You take “your home” out of your house by removing most of your personal items. Maybe ask a friend or relative to hold some of your personal items until your house sells, or consider renting a storage unit. If you have a lot of extra personal stuff, clutter or whatever, this is a get-serious step toward selling your house! If you don't take this step, it doesn't mean that you won't sell, but this step can go a long way toward a faster sale and a better offer.
Part of step 4 - Limit peronsal pictures:
A limited number of personal pictures are fine as long as they’re laid out neatly. If you have too many pictures, the “showing” becomes about you and not about the house you’re trying to sell. If the house is a good fit for the buyer, a professional salesperson will help the buyer start to envision their life in your house! That's assuming the house is a good fit for the buyer. Don't let your pictures hinder the process.
Step 5: Light sells so let it in!
More people are positive about a bright sunny day than a rainy day. Now and then you hear people say it’s beautiful out, but you rarely hear that when it’s raining (even if you personally like a good thunderstorm!) Open the shades. Turn on the lights during showings, day or night. If you have burnt out bulbs, replace them.
Step 6: Fix the minor stuff!
Fix it yourself or hire someone to do it. People will notice when your faucet leaks. To a buyer, that goes on their mental work-to-be-done-list. It’s a small investment to remove a minor distraction.
Step 7: Are you feeling ambitious?
How’s about a fresh coat of new paint (notice the emphasis – Fresh and New.) Your house is great, but if another equal house (can even be slightly more $) looks like less work and has a fresh feel to it, guess which house will get the offer?
Step 8: Everything looks better clean!
Here's a good reality check. I've been with buyers who walked out of showing commenting about the cleanliness, or rather the lack of cleanliness of a house. Some people can see past clutter and cleanliness, but, many buyers can't. If you want a better reason to clean, consider the fact that psychologically, a buyer will feel more confident offering you a lower price because of the lack of cleanliness. This isn't just my experience as a Broker, it's actually a well documented fact. Google the term, "psychology of cleanliness". As of this writing, you will find 7,100,000 links! A good first impression can motivate a buyer to come back for a 2nd viewing of your property.
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SOMETHING IN COMMON?
Do you want to sell your house on the high end of your price range? So do we! Call Scott to discuss what we do that goes beyond a simple MLS listing.