7 Ways to Prep your House for Sale

Even in a hot market with plenty of potential buyers and limited inventory working in your favor, there are some steps you should always take when getting your home ready to sell. These will help improve the overall presentation of your home and the powerful first impression it makes on potential buyers. These steps can also help identify and correct major sticking points that could come up later in the buying process.

1. Touch up your Landscaping

Mow the lawn, prune the bushes, weed the garden, and plant some new flowers to give your home’s exterior a quick and inexpensive makeover. If you have time beforehand, water the lawn daily and apply fertilizer and weed killer to green things up.

2. Clean the Exterior

Discoloration can be a big turn off. Fortunately, power washers are inexpensive to rent and easy to use. Just follow all necessary safety precautions.

3. Touch up Paint

A fresh coat of paint on the front door can brighten things up for a better first impression, and touching up interior walls will make your home look cleaner and fresher. You may also want to consider painting any brightly colored rooms a more neutral tone.

4. Replace Old or Damaged Flooring

It may seem counterproductive to invest so much in your home just as you are getting ready to sell, but bad flooring can often be a big problem for prospective buyers. Smelly or discolored carpet, or a dingy scarred-up floor will pull down the overall impression of your home like an anchor. A clean, updated, and fashionable floor selection, on the other hand, will lift your home’s perceived value dramatically.

5. Run Through Basic Repairs

Leaky faucets, damaged window panes, sagging stairs, or broken appliances should all be repaired or replaced prior to showing. Realtors, inspectors, and the prospective buyers will notice if you put these simple repair projects off.

6. Contract Major Repairs

A leaky roof or significant damage to shingles, siding, decking, or other major home features should be contracted out to be repaired ahead of time.  Otherwise you may find yourself haggling over steep price reductions with buyers later on.

7. Clean and Stage

This last step is the most obvious. When getting your home ready for showings take down personal photos and remove as much clutter as possible. Clear away unnecessary furniture and give the rooms a look that is as open and generic a layout as possible so that potential buyers can more easily see their possessions and family there, instead of yours. Then go and clean EVERYTHING. Dust, vacuum, polish, spray from top to bottom in every single room.

A Final Note. Pay extra attention to kitchens and bathrooms. These two rooms are critical in the home buying process, so take extra time to get each ready. Clean and bleach appliances or fixtures, clean cabinets (inside and out), and invest in new towels and window treatments in an attractive color. It will all pay off, and you still get to take the new towels with you after the sale!

Rely on the Experts

If you have flooring work, kitchen remodeling, or bathroom home repairs or renovations that you need completed before putting your home on the market, call the home repair specialists at Amber Valley! We would love to help out and pledge fast, high quality work, great communication, and friendly west-Michigan customer service. Free quotes are available today!