Checklist for Selling Your House - Low Cost or No-Money Preparations

Before you put your home for sale, make sure it’s looking its best. It’s your money on the line. By underestimating this part of the home selling process, you can be leaving thousands of dollars on the table. You don’t have to hire a stager but you need to be brutally honest about the condition of your house.
Here is what one of my buyers told me after we saw three identical townhomes. Two were bank –owned and were priced $10,000 less than the third home, which was a short sale. The short sale home was obviously very well prepared and staged for sale and the bank-owned homes, although both had more upgrades were just dirty (not in bad condition but dirty)
My buyer said (about the short sale home) that these sellers must have maintained the home very well because it is so clean and immaculate. I told my buyer that that is not always the case but he still bought it. The sellers got $10,000 more for their townhome than they would have without preparing the home to sell.
Can you afford to throw away thousands of dollars in this market? If not, follow this simple checklist to get your home ready to sell. Take photos of the house after you are done.

Exterior
□ Pressure wash the exterior of the house and the driveway– you can rent pressure washer from Home Depot.
□ Mow the lawn.
□ Clean up the weeds and trim bushes.
□ Remove any dead plants and if you have a budget for it, plant colorful flowers at the entrance
□ Repaint front door if needed, replace hardware, and install kick plate.
□ Replace light bulbs.
□ Make sure the house number is not missing numbers and it is clean.
□ Clean mailbox.
□ Wash windows.
□ Clean all clutter: toys, trash cans, tools.
□ Clean the garage.
□ Repair any exterior cracks and repaint.
□ Remove any wasp nests etc.
□ Place a clean welcome mat in front of the house. It is even better if it says “WELCOME”. Keep it simple.

Interior
□ Walk around your house and make sure the buyer knows the purpose of each room – stage it so it shows how the room can be used. Don’t leave a room empty or have a room look like a storage.
□ Get rid of excess and old furniture, you will not be taking with you. Your house will look larger with less furniture in it. Do a yard sale and make some extra money to pay for some of the repairs.
□ Declutter and depersonalize all rooms. You can leave a few personal photos but not a whole wall. Your buyer must see themselves moving into your house. If you have doubts what this means go to a builder’s model. Your house should look as close to that as possible.
□ Dust and remove cobwebs.
□ Open the windows and air your home
□ Take down heavy curtains and let the sunshine in
□ Clean all cabinets in the kitchen, remove everything from countertops except few(1 or 2) decorative objects
□ Clean all appliances (remove messages and magnets from refrigerator)
□ Clean bathrooms and remove personal care products from countertops. Use strong cleaner on tiles, bathtubs, sinks. One I can recommend is Greased Lightning. You can get it from Home Depot. You can use it for all of your cleaning.
□ Clean windows and blinds
□ I recommend repainting if you have lived in the house for more than two years, pick a neutral light beige color
□ Clean all doors
□ Clean all lighting fixtures and change the outdated ones.
□ Fix mechanical issues – This is very important especially in today’s’ market. You will want to fix many of the potential issues before the home inspection. If you don’t the buyers will try to negotiate the price down because of those repairs which could have been taken care ahead of time.
□ Clean carpet
When showing your home turn your lights on everywhere even if it is daylight. If you smoke, smoke outside and away from the house. If you have pets make sure they are clean and smell good.
Create romance in the house. If you have front porch, enhance it by placing a rocking chair, pot of bright geraniums, wind chimes. You have to create a picture in your buyer’s mind. Maybe open book by the bed with glasses on top of it and a tea cup. The final product – your house should look clean, inviting but not cold.