Sell Your Home Faster

When selling your home, remember that you only get one chance to make a good first impression. The following checklists are designed to help you create the best possible first experience for your prospective buyers … before they simply drive away.

Curb Appeal Checklist

Identify ways that can enhance the appeal of your home to more buyers with very little expense and just a bit of elbow grease. Take a good, hard, and objective look at your home from the road as you drive up to it. What do you see? … garbage cans at the side of the house? … oil stains in the driveway? … vegetation gone wild? These are just some of the things that your buyers will see as they drive up! 

We suggest taking a digital photo of the front of your house. Notice those aspects you’d be tempted to “erase” from the photo. Even though those items may seem trivial to you, they can influence how long a buyer may give to looking your house over.

The following checklists are comprised of things that you can do to help sell your home.

                              Exterior of Your Home

• Mow the lawn and trim the vegetation. Of course, plan to keep the lawn mowed on a regular basis as long as your home is on the market.
   

• Clean the driveway and clear all vegetation from the walkways and out of driveway cracks.
   

• Keep your garbage containers at the rear of the house or in the garage while the house is listed for sale. Also, keep toys and bicycles from the yard. Placing them neatly along the side of the house or out of sight does a lot for first impressions.
   

• Make sure the “Real Estate For Sale” sign is upright, prominent, and in reasonably good condition.
   

• Remove window screens from the front of the house and wash the windows. Store screens neatly until the home is sold.
   

• Clean the front door and its frame.
   

• Keep your garage door CLOSED!  Cluttered garages make homes seem smaller than they really are!

• Dress up the front! A few inexpensive potted flowers can go a long way toward saying, “This is a HOME and not just a house!”              

                        Interior of Your Home

• How does the house smell? Try to be objective. If the house has unpleasant odors, it will take much longer to sell. Homeowners become oblivious to odors they live with daily; but to someone else that is not accustomed to these smells, the result could be to flee and find someplace else.  Don’t just mask these odors; remove the sources until the house sells. If you have pets, keep the pet areas clean. If the house smells of tobacco, a deodorization may be in order. (Most carpet care companies can help in this regard.)
   

• When showing the house to prospective buyers, pleasant aromas will help sell a home more quickly. Studies have shown that the smell of fresh baked bread is one of the most pleasing nonverbal communications there is. When this might not be practical, there are scent devices that can be used. However, DO NOT OVER DO THEM!  Overpowering fragrances, or excessive aromas can be almost as detrimental as bad odors. In a pinch, just a little bit of cinnamon on a slice of bread in the oven at low temperature (200 degrees) can create a comfortable, “homey” feel.
   

• Keep the kitchen clean and free of clutter. Clutter makes kitchens seem smaller than they actually are.  Houses with cluttered kitchens scream at the potential buyer that a lack of cabinet space may be a problem.
   

• Keep bathrooms free from clutter, also. Keep commodes and sinks clean, including the bases of the bowls. If you have children, keep their tub toys stored neatly. Remove any rust stains from tubs and sinks.
   

• Clean and dust the windowsills. Keep blinds open and raised. Make the home as bright and cheery as possible. Not too many people respond well to gloomy or dingy environments.
   

• Dust everything … especially light fixtures, fans, and fireplace mantels. Remove ashes and soot from fireplaces. A few logs or candles placed neatly in the fireplace will have a much more positive aesthetic value.
   

• Clean all interior doors and frames.
   

• Keep furniture tidy; make beds; and keep dirty laundry in a closed hamper.
   

• Clean and straighten closets. Consider putting out-of- season clothing into storage to make closets appear roomier. When doing the housekeeping, do not overlook the closets.
   

• These few small steps have helped many home sellers attract buyers more rapidly than sellers who don’t do anything.
   

• Of course, as an additional, meaningful way to create positive first impressions, please also check out our web pages regarding “Listing Inspections”. Pre-listing inspections can go a long way towards creating positive first impressions by helping to remove the “scary” uncertainties that can be associated with unfamiliar houses.