If you are thinking about selling your house, you may be wondering how to get started. The first step is to contact a real estate agent to discuss your home’s value and determine what changes can help you get the most out of your house sale. If you’re thinking, “I need help to sell my house fast,” they can provide you with the best advice and insight. Based on the potential sale value of the house, you can decide how much you should invest or not invest while getting your home ready to sell. Here are the steps to preparing your house for sale.
1. Clean the house from top to bottom.
The first step is to clean the house from top to bottom and clear out all clutter. Clutter and uncleanliness will turn away potential buyers and make the house appear smaller than it is. Packing as much as you can live without during the process and putting it into storage will help you get the house clean and staged for showings.
While it may be a lot more work, keeping the house clean throughout the selling process will benefit you. Often, the notice you’ll receive when someone wants to see your house will be a couple of hours or less. You’ll need to get your stuff together and get away from the house quickly, so you won’t have time to clean with each showing.
2. Make needed repairs.
Once the house is cleaned out, you’ll be able to get a better look at things that may need to be repaired or repainted before allowing potential buyers in. Make a list of all of the repairs. If you aren’t sure what should get done and what can be put off, have your realtor do a walk-through and get their opinion.
Your realtor will have a better perspective of how things will look to potential buyers. While it may be critical to get some repairs done, you want to ensure you will get a return on your investment. The goal is to maximize the profit without spending more than you will get out of the house. You can shop around to get the best prices for the repairs you need with simple internet searches like “Grand Rapids window replacement.”
3. Stage your house.
Once the house is cleaned out and all of the needed repairs are made, stage the home. Staging combines decorating and furniture placement to make the house as appealing as possible to potential buyers. This may include moving some of your furniture to storage to make the rooms look more spacious. Some professionals can help you with the staging of your house if you need advice. If you buy a new home and move before the house being sold, you can hire companies that will stage the house with furniture and decor they keep in stock.
4. Don’t forget about curb appeal.
Landscaping offers a great return on your investment as curb appeal can significantly impact your asking price and the speed of selling your house. The front of your house needs to be cleaned up and well maintained while trying to sell. Keep the lawn mowed and weeded, and landscaping and flower beds should be kept simple. The goal is to make the yard look beautiful but easy to maintain.
While it can be challenging to live in your home while it is cleaned out and staged, it will give you the most significant opportunity to sell it quickly so that you can move on to the next stage of your life. Pre-packing and moving things you don’t need immediately to a storage unit will make the actual move much more manageable, so you can rest assured that the effort is not wasted.