When the Pam Ausley Team prepares to sell your home we walk through the home with you to discuss the positive features of your home, any repair issues, and ideas on how to prepare your home for sale. When needed, we bring in a professional interior decorator to stage your home. Once the home is ready, we bring in a professional photographer to take professional pictures for your listing. All of the steps we take prior to listing your home for sale are essential to help you get the most money for your home.
These are a few things you can do to prepare your home for sale and to get more value for your home.
Declutter Your Home
Our #1 recommendation to get the most value for your home is to declutter your home. This involves reducing the amount of stuff that you have on display, including candles, photographs, and other knick-knacks. Pay special attention to kitchen and bathroom countertops, tabletops, and open shelving. Clean off countertops by putting up daily-use items such as spices in the kitchen and personal care items in the bathroom. The goal is to make your home look open and spacious.
TIP: Home staging experts will tell you that people need to be able to envision themselves in your home. One expert staging trick is to remove personal photographs so the prospective buyer will see themselves living in your home instead of seeing your family.
Clean Your Home
Let’s face it, most of our homes could use a good deep cleaning. While you were decluttering you probably found a few places that were ‘missed’ during routine cleaning. It is imperative that your home smells nice and is free of dust, dirt and pet hair. Key areas to make sure you do not miss are ceiling fans, window blinds, baseboards, doors, door trim, and windows.
It is always a great idea to clean the carpets - especially if they are stained. If you do not want to hire a professional carpet cleaner, many grocery stores and home-improvement stores rent carpet cleaners by the day.
A lot of homeowners choose to hire a professional cleaning service prior to listing their home for sale. If you choose this route, make sure to include window cleaning so you can open up the curtains and blinds and let the sunlight shine through.
Clean Out Your Closets
Closets are often overlooked in the process of preparing a home for sale. Storage space is very important to potential buyers, and yes, they do open your closet doors, so don’t think you can stash all those knick-knacks you just cleaned up into the hall closet.
Take the time to tidy up your closets to look neat and not overly full. Make sure clothing on shelves is folded and stacked neatly. Items on the floor should be arranged neatly or stored in bins if possible. Hanging clothes should be organized by type, short sleeve, long sleeve, jackets, etc. Dirty laundry needs to be put up in hampers or baskets.
TIP: If your closets are overflowing, put seasonal and non-essential items in storage bins and stack them neatly in the garage, attic or basement. Another trick is to use under-bed storage bins to tuck away closet overflow items like shoes, handbags, sweaters, and scarves.
Touch Up Your Paint
Most homes do not need to be repainted prior to selling, but almost every home has a few spots that need to be touched-up. Typical areas in need of a touch-up include stains on kitchen walls and marks in the hallways. If you are comfortable with a paintbrush, go ahead and take the time to touch up doors, walls, and baseboards. If you are not comfortable with a paintbrush, talk to your Real Estate Agent about your concerns to see if you need to hire a painter. In most cases, if a potential buyer feels strongly about paint condition or color, it can be negotiated in the contract price without costing you any out-of-pocket money.
Hire The Pam Ausley Team
A great way to get more value for your home is to hire a real estate team with over 30 years experience selling homes in the Birmingham Area. These are just a few things you get from The Pam Ausley Team:
- Local Property Value Knowledge
- Professional Photography
- Professional Home Staging
- 30 Years of Contract Negotiating Experience
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you are considering selling your home contact the Pam Ausley Team using the form below or call Kimbo Rutledge at 205-542-7371.
