Q: How Should You Prepare Your Home for Sale?

Home preparation has to start somewhere; here are top my five suggestions.

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Preparing your home for sale seems simple at first, but can soon unfurl into a daunting campaign. Like most things, home prep becomes easier once you know what to focus on. Here are the top five things you should do as a soon-to-be home seller:

1. Have a consultation with your Realtor. I love to meet with a potential client to discuss some of their goals, establish a practical time frame for each step in the process, and share what sort of approaches we can implement to maximize their sale. 
2. Tackle home improvements. If you’ve lived in your home for 10 years or more, you’ll more likely need to tackle some problem areas. Today’s buyers are savvy when it comes to scoping out a home; they’ll leave no stone unturned, so we need to make sure any issues to the front, back, and inside get addressed beforehand.  Whatever we can do to make the home more turnkey ready will be worthwhile.  
3. Make sure the home is decluttered. Before we can have photos taken, your home needs to be clean and photo-ready. I know everyone likes to think they always keep their home presentable, but selling is a different ball game; your home has to look like a model home—cleared out, clean, and minimally (yet tastefully) furnished. I suggest getting a few boxes and mark some for donation, trash, and the rest for storage. If you declutter thoroughly, you will get the highest value for your home.  
4. Improve curb appeal. Now, I’ve already addressed a lot of this topic in a previous video, but here’s a quick recap of things that go a long way for a home’s exterior: power washing the driveway; planting new flowers and weeding the garden; painting your front door; trimming lawn edges and shrubbery; and laying fresh mulch.  
5. Professionally stage the home. I have a couple of professional designers that come in and help us stage the property. So if you don’t have furniture that’s necessarily in the best shape, we can actually rent chic items and arrange them in the most conducive way for pictures. We could also just move your furniture around to maximize lighting and make each room appear larger. If you want your staging prepaid, we can deduct that money from the escrow at the end of the sale (this financing option also applies for any of the aforementioned projects if you don’t have the money to get them done yourself).

I hope this list provided you with a better sense of direction as a seller. If you have any questions, reach out to me via phone or email. I’m happy to answer your questions, refer you to great resources, or schedule that initial consultation with you.