Dress Your House to Sell
If you want your house to sell and sell quickly, you need your house to shine. You may be happy with your decorating style and it may be great, however, potential buyers may not agree with you.
In order to effectively sell your home you do need to follow some tried and true principles.
- First and foremost you must de clutter your home. Walls are filled with family decorations, but when selling a home; you need to depersonalize your walls. Put away your priceless belongings and clean your closets. The appearance of organization is crucial when trying to sell your home. Clean out closets and store unused clothes in boxes and put in a storage unit. You want your closets to look organized.
- Box up decorations, dishes used sporadically, family photos and knickknack collections. Things that you will not need to use while selling your home should be packed. For your own security, be sure to mark your boxes clearly. A note to remember when dressing your house to sell is to remember that the seller wants to see your home, but not your personal belongings.
- If furniture is frayed or horribly outdated, cover it with inexpensive furniture covers. Move heavy couches and chairs away from windows and avoid blocking doorways with furniture.
- Hire someone to fix those little broken items in your home. These may include leaky faucets, light switches that do not work, and toilets that sing.
- Paint rooms that are in need of painting and replace hardware such as door knobs and cabinet handles.
- Purchase new towels for bathrooms, take magnets off the refrigerator, and clean kitchen counter-tops. A good rule of thumb: less is more.
- Have the carpets cleaned professionally and use area rugs to emphasize room decor.
- Leave your home when potential buyers come over to inspect your house. There is nothing more disconcerting than a home owner hovering over potential buyers.
- Use a professional stager. These employees will come in a help you decorate for selling. Generally they use you own items, but do charge a fee for their services.
-  Think “curb appeal†and do a little landscaping. This doesn’t have to be extensive and expensive, either. Mow, do some weeding, plant some flowers and spread some mulch, if nothing else! Then drive by: how does it look from your car? Would you get out taking a closer look around?
Look at your home as if you were the potential buyer. You want to see the size of the rooms and imagine your own possessions on the wall and shelves. Take away those personal expensive items that might be of interest to a buyer and keep everything tidy, clean, and organized.
