Declutter, clean, paint, mow, plant, refinish, replace and renew; all words commonly found in blogs, magazine articles and books advising you how best to prepare your home for a quick sale at top dollar. You can do 99 percent of the right stuff to make your house look stellar, but if you let 1 percent of the wrong stuff slip through the cracks, it may be that one tiny thing that kills a potential offer. Worse yet, negative ?reviews? of your house can be exaggerated and widely spread through your neighborhood and the real estate community, possibly scaring away the perfect buyer.
A Rose by Any Other Name?
What types of things might be on that 1 percent list? One of my employees searching for a small fixer-upper second home in Arizona came across many unthinkable situations in average homes. Smells were a big one ? from dogs, cats and dirt ? but the worst house had a combination of all three along with an eye-stinging smell of urine. They held their noses and couldn?t get outside quickly enough. It was a large house in a good neighborhood, and probably fixable at the right price, but they couldn?t stay in the house long enough to evaluate it, even after making a repeat visit.
Let Sleeping Things Lie
No, please don?t. Just because your teenager likes to sleep until early afternoon, please don?t invite potential buyers into your house until you have done a complete sweep for animals and kids hiding under the covers. It just so happened that my employee and her real estate agent were unpleasantly surprised more than once by occupants stirring from their sleep in a back bedroom.
Lights Out
Another big no-no. Drapes drawn, unlit lamps and light switches in the ?off? position can give the impression that a stakeout is in progress. There is good reason on a hot summer afternoon to have shades drawn and lights low to keep things cool, but if you are trying to sell your house, you need to keep things turned on and opened up in order to highlight the best features of each room. Incandescent lamp lighting is most flattering to the human complexion, so if you truly want buyers to say they can ?see? themselves living there, then help them to see themselves at their best in ?their? home.
Picture via cotedetexas.blogspot.com Pictures ARE Worth a Thousand Words
Before any buyer even thinks of stepping into your listed house, he or she has seen many pictures of it before asking to see the real thing. Don?t reduce your odds of a showing by displaying unflattering pictures of your fantastic home. You don?t need to hire a professional photographer or buy a fancy new camera just to market your home. Do take clear, well-lit and composed (aka staged or styled) pictures of the best parts of the house.
Leave kids, animals, paper piles, open cupboards, and your bathroom toiletries out of the pictures.?Your house can be beautifully staged, but if the pictures on the real estate websites don?t get your ?customer? in the door, then your staging dollars and efforts will not even get one chance to pay off. Tell your buyers with pictures what you can?t tell them with words.
One Bad Apple ?
Can spoil the whole bunch. Remove the bad apples and polish up the good ones. Homebuyers are savvier than you may think. Even though you have never met them, you are preparing your home to become theirs, and you only get one shot at it. Don?t spoil their first or last impression.
Warmly,
Laura Leist, CPO
Organizing with Laura
Source: http://www.realestate.com/advice/be-aware-as-you-prepare-to-sell-your-home-45919/
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