4 Things Sellers MUST Do Before Listing Their Home
Hi, Kevin Yoder here with Yoder Real Estate, now powered by eXp. I’m back today with a question I get asked a lot, which is: “What do I REALLY need to do to get my home ready for sale?” If you’re a home seller and you’re thinking about listing your home this fall, it’s still a viable market. We had about six weeks off due to COVID-19. So many buyers are still out there looking for homes and because interest rates are so low, they’re going to take action on it. If you’re getting your home on the market this fall, here are the four things that you need to do to get your home ready for sale.
#1 – Declutter.
Remove as much as possible from the home and put it in storage, or get rid of it. This is a pain point for many, but understand decluttering and neutralizing your space allows a buyer to fall in love with it on the internet where they see it first and then schedule that showing with their agent to come see it. When they come out in person, the more neutral the space is, the more they’re going to appreciate it, and see themselves living there. Think of it as you’re taking your hat off, which says, “I live there” and you’re putting in a new hat on you, which says, “I will sell this home.” It’s a different mindset. Make it neutral. Allow the buyer to see themselves living in the home and not through the eyes of your stuff. They shouldn’t have to try to figure out what it will look like living there by removing your things. Do it for them, make it easy for them.
#2 – Flooring
The kitchen, living room, dining room, and main floor dens, these are high-impact areas. If the flooring is ripped, tattered, torn, stained, or otherwise Brady Bunch blue or green in these areas, it’s likely got to go. Listen, this is a sore spot, right? But take care of business now, and you’re going to get more money. This is a return on investment piece. And by the way, all this stuff I mentioning, if it was done two years ago, you wouldn’t be fretting about it, right? It’s all the things that you should’ve done throughout the years, but now that it’s coming to crunch time, it seems like you’re doing something like a concession. It probably should have been done years ago, but we’re doing it now, and you’re going to get the money back.
It probably should have been done years ago, but we're doing it now, and you're going to get the money back.
#3 – Painting
Paint spaces that you know need to be done. Painting is probably the number one return on investment that you can make. Just pay someone to come in and paint your home. It doesn’t cost that much money, and you’re going to get four to five times the money back out of that.
#4 – Window Cleaning
Windows have to be cleaned, because a buyer needs to be able to see out, and see in. And when the light comes in, your home is going to look beautiful. This includes taking down heavy drapery that keeps the light from shining in. It should be as bright as possible.
So those are a few things that you can work on as a seller to get your home ready for sale. The more you do upfront in advance of listing your home, the prettier the home will look, the more of a good presentation it will be online for buyers. And then they’re going to want to come out and see it in person. And when they do, they’re going to love what they see!
If you want to know more about how to get your home ready for sale, how to maximize, maximize the money you get at the closing table, how to shrink the days on the market that you have as a seller, which is always going to be an important thing for you, give us a call here at Yoder Real Estate, 616-942-2449 We’re here to help, and we’ll talk to you soon.
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