Preparing and staging your home. Every Calgary home owner / seller wants their home to sell fast and bring top dollar on the market. Some people are successful at attaining top dollar and others aren’t. Well, it’s not luck that makes that happen. It’s careful planning and knowing how to professionally spruce up your home that will send home buyers scrambling for their checkbooks. Here are a few tips on how to prepare a house and turn it into an irresistible and marketable home.
Time Required to complete the below tasks: Seven to Ten Days
Disassociate Yourself With Your Home
De-Personalize
Pack up those personal photos and family heirlooms. Buyers can’t see past personal artifacts, and you don’t want them to be distracted while looking at your home. You want buyers to imagine their own photos on the walls, and they can’t do that if your wedding photo is staring them in the face. You don’t want to make buyers ask, “I wonder what kind of people live in this home?” You want buyers to say, “I can see myself living here.”
Take down diplomas or degrees. Buyers always look at diplomas and degrees, and if you are in a career that earns a significant income buyers tend to use that as a crutch when making an offer “Oh well they can take less because he’s a doctor, lawyer” or whom ever. Other buyers may not like certain professions and will hold that against you. It is actually really shocking some of the comments you hear from buyers.
De-Clutter
If you don’t need it, why not donate it or throw it away!
- Remove books from bookcases (You can leave a few but keep it to a minimum)
- Pack up all knickknacks
- Clean everything off the kitchen counters. You can leave items like a toaster or coffee maker out, but again keep it to a minimum
- Put essential items used daily in a small box that can be stored in a closet when not in use
- Think of this process as a first step to the packing you will eventually need to do anyway
Rearrange Bedroom Closets and Kitchen Cabinets
Buyers love to snoop and will open any closet or cabinet door. Think of the message it sends if an item falls out or they see something they are not supposed to! Now imagine what a buyer thinks if they see everything organized. It says you probably take good care of the rest of the house as well.
- Organize spice jars and items in your fridge
- Neatly stack dishes
- Turn coffee cup handles facing the same way
- Hang shirt colors together, buttoned and facing the same direction
- Line up shoes
Rent a Storage Unit
Almost every home shows better with less furniture. Remove pieces of furniture that block or hinder walkways and put them in storage. Remove extra leaves from your dining room table to make the room appear larger. Leave just enough furniture in each room to showcase the room’s purpose and plenty of room to move around. You don’t want buyers scratching their heads saying, “What is this room used for again?”
Remove/Replace Favorite Items
If you want to take window coverings, built-in appliances or fixtures with you, remove them now. If the chandelier in the dining room once belonged to your great grandfather and you don’t want to sell it with the house, take it down. If a buyer never sees it, they won’t want it. Once you tell a buyer they can’t have an item, they will covet it, reduce their price, and it could blow your deal. Pack those items and replace them, if necessary.
Make Minor Repairs
Make the House Shine!
Scrutinize & Be Critical
Check Curb Appeal
If a buyer won’t even get out of their realtors car because they don’t like the exterior of your home, you’ll never get them inside.
- Keep the sidewalks cleared of snow or ice
- Cut and fertilize the lawn
- Paint faded window trim
- Plant flowers or group flower pots together
- Trim your shrubs and trees
- Make sure visitors can clearly read your house number