Preparing Your Home For A Quick Sale

Inventory in Orange County is down 20% from last year. Distressed properties on the market our down. Some homes are getting multiple offers the first day they are on the market. What does all this mean to you if you’re thinking about selling your home?

If you plan to sell your home in the near future, you should begin taking steps to get your house ready. You want your house to shine once that for sale sign goes up and prospective buyers start coming through. Here are some quick, low cost projects you should do now:

  • Clean out your drawers, cabinets and closets. Anything you don’t use or need should get tossed, donated or given away. Anything you can pack away should go in a box to move to your next place.  You might be thinking, “What’s the big deal? Why should I clean out my drawers, cabinets and closets?”  The BIG DEAL is, buyers will open the drawers, cabinets and closets when they are looking at a home. They want to see how much room there is for all their stuff. The more sparse and neater your drawers, cabinets and closets appear will highlight how much room there is. If something in crammed with stuff or messy, it gives the impression there’s not enough room. So quit your moaning and get to work on these.
  • Light up the place. Make sure you replace any burnt out light bulbs.  Most people are drawn to light and bright surroundings. If your house has rooms with small windows that don’t let in a lot of natural light, make sure there is sufficient artificial lighting to show off the space. You can get this done in no time and it will make a big difference.
  • Those neat things you collect that are all over the living room, on shelves, walls, where ever, get them ready for the move and pack them up. Free up the walls and shelves, leaving them with just a few decorative items. Again, you want to give the buyer an opportunity to see all their stuff in those spaces. It’s hard for them to imaging when your things are there.
  • Got mildew? If there’s one thing that makes buyer recoil after looking in a bathroom, it’s seeing mold and mildew in the showers and bath tubs. It makes them feel like the house is dirty and then they will be dreading what they will have to do to get the place cleaned up. Not your thing? Hire a tile cleaning service to come out and take care of it. They got the tools and equipment to get rid of the scary looking stuff and it’ll free up your time to do something else.
  • Wash your windows.  It let’s more light in. The outside view looks better. It’s simple and you can do it yourself.

Get a detailed room-by-room check list emailed to you right now!