Preparing Your Home... Make It Sparkle!
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Your home only gets one chance to make a good first impression. And, it needs to start as the potential buyer drives up.
Keep the walkway and driveway clean and free from clutter. Pressure wash the driveway, walkways and garage floor. Cut the grass and trim the edges. Plant flowers.
Clean the gutters clean and sweep leaves and pine straw off the roof.
If the siding or trim hasn’t been painted for a while, paint them. Replace and paint all rotted siding and window trim. Wash all the windows and remove the screens from the windows. Pay particular attention to the front door. Remove all the spider webs, repaint or re-varnish the front door. Put new locks and handles on if necessary.
The same attention to detail should extend into the house.
What a prospective buyer senses as they enter the house is as important as what they felt when they drove up.
The entry hall should be warm and inviting. Remove items that you don’t need or use to make all closets look as spacious as possible. All storage areas should be cleaned and straightened and emptied of excess and unused items.
Kitchens and bathrooms are often the main rooms buyers are concerned about. You must do everything possible to make them appealing. Keep them clean and antiseptic looking and feeling.
Above all else, the house must be clean and neat. Beds made every morning, toys put away, dirty dishes in the dishwasher, not in the sink.
Have the carpets professionally cleaned.
Odors must be eliminated especially if you have dogs, cats or young children in diapers, or if you are a smoker. You may not notice the smell, but buyers do.
De-personalize the house as much as possible. Even though it may pain you, put away family pictures. Buyers need to visualize themselves living in the house – your family pictures are a distraction.
A good rule of thumb is,
if it’s broken – fix it,
if it’s dirty – clean it,
if you don’t need it – get rid of it!
And most of all, paint, paint, paint! A coat of paint goes a long way to freshen and brighten a house inside and out. Repaint all dramatic colored walls in a neutral tone. In fact, neutralize the house as much as possible. Remember, a lot of people can’t see beyond the obvious. Help them visualize how they can live in your house with their furniture and with their decorating tastes.
