Even in a seller’s market, your home is often competing against other homes staged as if they were just built. If you want to get the highest price possible, make sure your home is in tip-top shape for potential homebuyers by taking the following steps:
Declutter your space. Clear out as much space so prospective buyers get an idea of how they want to fill it. The home will feel smaller if it’s packed with your stuff, and knock your home out of the running.
Depersonalize your walls. That pink, blue and yellow-colored room may be jarring to a potential buyer. The same is true of sports memorabilia or any other items that might keep buyers from seeing the home as their own. Stick to neutral paint colors and wall decor throughout the house, and pack away knickknacks.
Have someone do a smell test. You may have learned to live with smells in your home, but buyers expect it to have that new-construction smell. Fresh paint, clean carpets and a dehumidifier for a musty basement may help keep homebuyers’ noses happy when they visit your home.
Maximize your curb appeal. Buyers may not even come through the door of a house with a faded paint job, dirty windows and overgrown weeds. Or if they do make an offer, it may be lower if they assume the inside of your home has been maintained as poorly as the outside.
Light up the area. Opening windows and turning on lights makes rooms seem larger, and helps buyers picture how their stuff would fit in the home if it was theirs. Burned-out light bulbs may be a red flag that the home hasn’t been taken care of.
Consider a staging service. Staging may not only help you make more money on your sale, but could even help you sell your home faster. Buyers’ agents surveyed in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) 2021 Profile of Home Staging said staged home prices were 1% to 5% higher, and decreased the time the house sat on the market.
Get a home inspection. A home inspection gives you a detailed look at both the seen and unseen components of your home. Besides repairing obvious things like broken door handles, stains on the carpet or nail holes in the wall, you’ll want to know if there are any looming issues with the air conditioning, water heater, roof and other working parts.
