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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
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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.
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Clean the driveway and clear all vegetation from the
walkways and out of driveway cracks.
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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.
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Make sure the “Real Estate For Sale” sign is upright,
prominent, and in reasonably good condition.
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Remove window screens from the front of the house and
wash the windows. Store screens neatly until the home is sold.
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Clean the front door and its frame.
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Keep your garage door CLOSED! Cluttered garages make
homes seem smaller than they really are!
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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
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Clean all interior doors and frames.
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Keep furniture tidy; make beds; and keep dirty
laundry in a closed hamper.
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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.
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These few small steps have helped many home sellers
attract buyers more rapidly than sellers who don’t do anything.
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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.
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