Are you getting ready to sell your home but are really busy? You want to get top dollar, but can't seem to find the time to prepare your home for sale?
In speaking with other homeowners who are selling their home on their own, most say this is the hardest part of selling your home.
With a little organization and the right approach, you can use a few weekends to get your home in great shape before you list it for sale.
1st Weekend of Preparing Your Home For Sale – Start Outside
Have you ever lived next to someone selling their home? Did you notice the number of cars that slowed down when driving past their home? Maybe a few of them stopped in front for 30-60 seconds.
I know my wife and I did this a lot during our previous home searches. We would drive by at lunch time to make sure we liked the outside of the home before we ever considered asking to view the home.
These potential buyers were getting their first impression of your neighbor’s home. The first impression starts with the outside of your home and so that is where we are going to start.
Here are some quick, inexpensive tasks you can do to make your home look its best. Get your spouse and kids ready to work, because this will take one full weekend to accomplish.
- Mow the grass. Now that you are selling your home, you may need to mow a little more often then you like. Consider mowing on Fridays if your home would appeal to working families so it looks great over the weekend.
- Add sod if needed. If you have dead areas of grass (like we all do in the south), consider installing new sod. This is hard work, but an immediate fix. Just make sure you water it regularly.
- Clean up the landscaping. Trim your bushes and replace anything that died. If you replace something, spend the extra money to buy a mature plant that is about the same size as your other plants. For example, I had a boxwood bush that died and instead of spending $7 at Home Depot on a small boxwood, I went to a nursery and spent $30 on a boxwood that was the same size as my other plants.
- Pressure wash the house, sidewalks and driveway. If you don’t have a pressure washer, you can buy one for a few hundred dollars and do this yourself. Stay away from the $99 pressure washers because they are not very powerful and are awkward to use. I like the Generac gas powered pressure washers. (Note that I am an affiliate for Amazon.) They are cheap, reliable, well rated and you don't have to worry about lugging around cords because they are gas powered. Alternatively you could use a hose and a brush. Scrub the house yourself or assign this task to your kids (especially if the kids are misbehaving). If you are kids are behaving well, you can hire out this task for $100 and up.
- Don’t forget the windows. Clean them inside and out to let as much sunshine come in as possible. Sunshine = Great Impression.
- Pick up the dog poop! We had a dog when we sold our last home and before every showing, I went into the back yard and scooped the poop. This prevented the buyers from leaving my home with a bad impression (no one likes poop on their shoe). It also saved me from cleaning up poop that was tracked in the home by the buyers and their agents.
- Plant some flowers. Check out your local home improvement store to see what plants and flowers are in season. Plant them in beds around your mailbox, near the front door and in focal points in the front yard.
- Clean up. Pick up any kids’ toys and get rid of any old outdoor furniture. If something is not in great shape and you are not going to take it with you, toss it. If you want to keep it, consider renting a storage unit.
- How does that entry way look? Clean up your entry way and make it sparse. Buyers should be able to experience the full entry way when they step into it. Consider adding a fresh coat of paint to your front door, replacing rusted hardware and kick plates. Maybe even consider some high tech hardware that will impress you homeowners, like this Bluetooth door lock. This will also help you lock and unlock your home for a real estate agent and their buyer when you are not there.
What if I don’t live in a house?
If you live in a condo, apartment, or town home where you don’t maintain the outside areas, ask the managing board to do these things. They have a budget each year to keep the landscaping up and keep the buildings in great shape. Ask, and they may just call the service a little earlier in the year than expected to take care of these items.
More importantly though, the board has the power to notify your neighbors if they are not being good stewards of your common areas. They can send out letters and make phone calls to reminder little Jimmy's Dad to keep bicycles out of the courtyard.
Do you have more money than time? Consider hiring some local pros to help you out. Home Advisor lets you find reputable pros and view their ratings online.
What If I Want To Do More?
The more you do, the better your home will look. Here are some resources that give you additional tips on preparing your home for sale.
- First American Title Insurance Company – Planning To Sell – A Homeowners Checklist
- Meet Penny – Prepare Your Home For Sale Printable Checklist
- Triple R Photography – Prepare your home for Real Estate Photographs Checklist
What Do I Do Next?
Next weekend your are going to start on the inside of your home. In the mean time, check out how one couple sold their home in just three days. You will see what they did to prepare their home and how it looked in the pictures.
