The following tips may be helpful to you in your quest of selling your home.

INSIDE YOUR HOME:

• Clear all unnecessary objects from furniture throughout the house, keep traffic flow areas open. Restrict decorative objects on the furniture to groups of 1, 3 or 5 items.

• Rearrange or remove some of the furniture if necessary. As owners, many times we have too much furniture in a room. This is wonderful for our own personal enjoyment, but when it comes to selling, we need to thin out as much as possible to make rooms appear larger.

• Clear all unnecessary objects from kitchen countertops. If it hasn’t been used for 3 months, pack it up!

• Clear refrigerator fronts of messages, pictures, etc. (A sparse kitchen helps the buyer mentally move their things into your kitchen)

• In the bathroom, remove any unnecessary items from countertops, tubs, shower stalls and commode tops. Keep only your most needed items in one small group on the counter. Coordinate towels to 1 or 2 colors only. Keep ceramics & chrome sparkling!

• Take down or rearrange certain pictures or objects on walls – especially family pictures. Buyers should be able to envision this as their home with their family pictures. Patch and paint if necessary.

• Review the house inside room by room, AND THEN…Paint...Clean carpet or drapes...Clean windows...all wherever needed.  Be sure the house smells fresh...no strong odors.

• Check those closets – you’ll soon need to pack up anyway, so get started here by straitening up AND boxing up. Put the boxes in the garage or attic or storage if you need to. How about a garage sale?

OUTSIDE YOUR HOME:

• Go around the perimeter of the house and remove all garbage cans, discarded wood scraps, extra building materials, etc., into the garage or storage...or take to dump.

• Check gutters and/or roof for dry rot and make sure they are kept swept and cleaned. 

• Look at all plants...prune bushes and trees. Keep plants from blocking windows. “You can’t sell a house if you can’t see it!”

• Weed and then mulch all planting areas. Keep lawn freshly cut, watered and fertilized. Remove any dead plants or shrubs –  fresh flowers by the door are a nice welcome to potential buyers.

• Clear patios or decks of all small items, such as tools, extra planters, charcoal, toys, etc. Put in garage or storage.

• Check paint condition of the house – especially the front door and trim. “Curb Appeal” really works!

• Consider have a home inspection done now – avoid losing a potential buyer over something you can have fixed ahead of time.

• Consider purchasing a “Home Warranty” - it gives you an edge over most other listings on the market.