Pre-Sale To-Do

What you should do to your house before you sell it will vary depending on the state of your house and any unique problems that may reduce its appeal to prospective homebuyers.

There are a variety of low-cost and easy fixes that homeowners can implement prior to putting their home on the market, as well as starting steps to improve the effectiveness of upcoming home marketing efforts.

Declutter and Depersonalize

What appeals to you might not be attractive to potential homebuyers. The pictures of your family vacation to Hawaii might evoke feelings of warmth and comfort every time you look at it – but having those and other family photos on your mantle or walls can make it harder for potential homebuyers to picture the space as their own. The same is true for other little knickknacks or unique décor.

Don’t take decluttering personally – real estate agents give the same advice to everyone. There are practical reasons to declutter as well, including making a space appear larger and more inviting.

Put Some Elbow Grease Into Deep Cleaning

Making the interior of your home look attractive to prospective homebuyers doesn’t have to cost you much if you’re willing to put in the time and effort yourself. Many big-box home improvement stores have professional-grade cleaning tools available for rent, and most of them can be operated effectively by a motivated DIYer with the ability to look up how-to videos on YouTube. Some examples include:

• Carpet cleaners (with upholstery tools if needed)
• Pressure washers
• Tile and grout steam cleaners
• Wet/dry vacuums
• Abrasive blasters (sand blasters)
• Paint sprayers

Whether you should take the DIY route or hire a professional cleaner depends on the condition of your house or what you plan on doing. Renting professional-grade equipment can get expensive, and it might end up being more affordable to hire professional cleaners. However, professional maid services might not offer the more rigorous deep-cleaning services like tile and grout cleaning or thorough carpet cleaning, in which case doing it yourself might be less expensive than hiring carpet cleaning specialists.

Paint and Repair

Repainting interior walls in a neutral color that appeals to a wide audience – or at least isn’t actively off-putting to anyone – can be a great idea. Fresh paint can dramatically enhance both exterior and interior appearance quickly and is one of the lower-cost home improvement investments to increase home marketability.

It typically isn’t overly expensive to repair or replace the little things inside and outside your home that might leave a negative impression on people touring the property. Replace damaged or missing outlet or light switch covers. Replace broken lighting fixtures and burned-out bulbs. Replace old shower curtains, especially if they have unusual prints some people might find strange.

There may also be little things you can do in your kitchen or bathrooms to modernize the space without investing in total cabinet or countertop replacement, such as changing fixtures or door hardware.

Enhancing Exterior Curb Appeal

Yard work is another home-beautifying task many home sellers can tackle on their own or with the assistance of relatively low-cost professional services. This should include everything from trimming your lawn and pulling weeds to trimming trees, removing stumps or adding fresh mulch to garden beds.

If you don’t have the time or money to paint the exterior of your home, sometimes you can get away with selective applications of paint, like to your front door, garage door, mailbox or fascia board. You may also want to replace outdated porch lights or house numbers with more modern or attractive alternatives.

Get Rid of Odors

Occupants of a home get used to the unique smells of the home, but anyone visiting the home will notice the odor – good or bad. Odors can be subjective too, and what seems fine or normal to the homeowner might be disconcerting to some home shoppers. Home odors can run the gamut from the unique smells of a cat’s litter box, bird cages or rabbit/hamster cages to the accumulated smell of years of cooking curry, cigarette smoke or particularly pungent shoes and socks.

A traditional deep clean might not be enough to deodorize a home that’s absorbed years or decades of particular odors. There are some effective strategies, like steam cleaning flooring and upholstery, air duct cleaning, professional ozone treatments, persistently using candles and air fresheners and airing out the home by opening doors and windows. It’s best to begin these efforts weeks or months before putting your home on the market.

You may want to ask your real estate agent for advice, as they’ve undoubtedly assisted other home sellers deal with persistent odors during the home selling process in the past.

Get Help Preparing Your Home for Sale

At 72SOLD, we’re committed to working with the best local real estate agents to sell homes fast and for a better price than competing homes for sale within your MLS – and we have data to back up the efficacy of our system. Find out how a 72SOLD real estate agent can help you maximize the sale price of your home.