These five steps will have your home in the best shape for the market.
The number two question we get from homeowners is, “What should we do to prepare our home for sale?” This is an excellent question. Let’s review the five things that should be on your checklist when listing your home.
1. Get an assessment done. You need a full assessment of your home, both inside and out. You need to know where to prioritize your time and energy to showcase your home best.
2. Take care of the obvious needs. After your full home assessment, you need to note any areas of deferred maintenance and also areas of easy cosmetic updates that can give you a positive return on investment. Don’t forget to look at all your mechanicals, including your furnace, air conditioner, and water heater. It’s best to always do a tune-up on these before your home comes to the market.
“What should we do to prepare our home for sale?”
3. Update your style. Is your home stuck in the seventies or eighties? Now is a time for some easy, quick moneymaking updates. We’ve talked a lot about removing polished brass, removing boards or wallpaper that might date your home, and updating with neutral paint colors. Also, we want to update any heavy-wear items, such as carpets. We want the buyer to feel that your home is relatively move-in ready without you having to spend tens of thousands of dollars.
4. Declutter, dispose, and decorate. How you live in your home is not necessarily how you want to present your home when it’s time to sell. Now is the time to get rid of all that extra stuff and get your home ready to appeal to the largest buyer pool possible. Don’t worry; we can help with all of this.
5. Curb Appeal. Feel the feeling the buyer has walking to your front door. It sets the tone for their whole walkthrough of your home. If your yard screams lack of maintenance, that is how the buyer thinks you have maintained your home during its whole tenure. Again, we know this can be a lot of work, and we can help every step of the way.
If home prep is the number two question we get, what’s the number one question? That’s easy. It’s, “What’s my home worth today?” Well, don’t worry. You can get an instant home valuation on your home today, and you can start that process with our easy online home valuation tool. Go to JohnSchusterGroup.com and click Home Value to see your home’s worth in today’s market.
