Here are some simple tips you can follow in preparing your home for sale that will help you sell your home faster and for more money in today’s buyer’s market. See the full article for details:

1. Price Your Home Right From the Start

If you set a price that is higher than comparable homes in your area that actually sold within the past 3 months, your home will probably sit on the market a long time without any interest from buyers.

2. List Your Home with a Broker who Recently Sold Lots of Homes in Your Area

This almost goes without say. In a tough market, your home will sell much faster through the network of brokers in multiple listing service that serves your area, and it makes sense to list with the broker who is most successful at selling homes in your area.

3. Less is More

If your rooms are cluttered with too much furniture and junk, buyers will have a hard time picturing how their own furniture will fit in your home, the rooms will feel small to them, and the mess will be a turn-off. Clean up the junk, and then “stage” your home by removing any furniture you can live without — the extra furniture can be sold, donated, or put into storage.

Vacuum and shampoo the carpeting – this will rejuvenate its appearance and will help clear up impressions and other marks left after you have moved the furniture around.

A wood floor that has some wear spots may look better if the room has an appropriate rug in the right location. Leave enough of the floor uncovered so that a potential buyer understands that you have a wood floor that’s in pretty good condition. Refinishing a wood floor is a big job, but worthwhile if the floor is in bad shape.

Now that your rooms are sparsely but tastefully furnished, be sure that they are well lit, and that there’s a lamp that will light each room as you enter and turn on a light switch by the door. Well-lit rooms look larger and friendlier to a visitor, so don’t skimp on lighting.

4. Color Me Neutral

Kodachrome gives you those nice bright colors, but you aren’t Paul Simon and your house isn’t a 1970’s song. Resist the urge to paint your house or rooms with bright or unusual colors. Almost everyone prefers flat white ceilings and hardly anyone will complain if your walls are off-white or some other neutral color. Remember that dark colors make a room seem small and dark rooms generally make people feel uncomfortable.

While I’m on the subject of colors, take a look at the colors of your rugs and carpeting – a potential buyer will look at a room with an odd carpet and will overestimate the cost of replacing the carpeting or the buyer may just remember the “room with the ugly carpet”. Keep things simple and your house will sell much faster.

5. Give Your House a Face Lift Without Spending a Fortune

Remember that many potential buyers will drive by a house and, if they don’t feel good about what it looks like from the outside, they won’t ever make an appointment to see what’s inside. Unless you live on a street corner, that means that people will drive past the front of your home and your front yard, and these are the things that can either help a potential buyer decide your home is worth checking out or will scare them away. Here are some things you can do that don’t cost much but will greatly improve your home’s “curb appeal”.

Landscaping

These simple landscaping jobs that will make your property look much more attractive without making a major investment. If you don’t have the time or ambition to tackle these jobs yourself, they can be done by a landscaper at very reasonable cost:

• Lawn Care
  If you have a lawn, and it’s the season when grass is growing, mow it weekly but reseed/patch any dead spots. A shaggy lawn is a turn-off, and sends a message that you probably don’t take good care of your place. Furthermore, if you keep your lawn mowed, any weeds will be much less noticeable. Properly fertilizing and watering your lawn will keep it nice and green. If your lawn isn’t in good shape, admit to yourself that you need help from a pro that knows how to revive your lawn in a reasonable timeframe.

• Trim any shrubbery so that it looks neat and attractive.

• Remove any sick or dead plants.
  Decide whether you can replace the ones you remove to fill in an obvious blank spot, or whether you should move or remove a few additional healthy ones to create an open space that you may do something new and interesting with.

• Fill in Blank or Boring Spots:
  Go visit your local nursery and see what inexpensive flowering plants are available. I suggest that you choose simple attractive plants like pansies and impatiens. Buy enough to fill in any obvious blank or boring spots.

• Consult Landscapers:
  If you aren’t talented as a landscape designer, have one or two landscapers look at your property, explain what your goal is, and have them come up with a proposed design, which should include a sketch of what would go where, a list of what work they propose to do, what new plants they propose to install, and a timetable for when the work will be done, and itemized costs.

Paint and Siding

If you have dirty siding, see if it’s safe to power wash it. If your house is painted and the paint is in bad shape or is a color that you are willing to admit is a turn-off to a potential buyer, then it’s time to repaint it in a NEUTRAL color. Unless you are a pro, this is a big job and worth getting professional help. Depending on the size of your house and the required amount of prep work, this could cost $5,000 or more, and you should get more than one estimate, but if your house obviously needs a new paint job, this will be money well spent.

Shutters and Trim

If the paint job and siding of your home are OK, take a close look at the condition of the shutters, railings, and trim, especially on the ground floor where they will be obvious to someone walking in front of your house.

If the shutters look shabby, they can be repainted or replaced relatively easily and inexpensively, and your house will make a much better impression.

Over time, metal railings will develop peeling paint and/or rust. Repaint the railings in black, white, another color that complements your home’s color scheme after treating them with a wire brush and some Rustoleum or a chemical rust converter (usually available at an auto parts store – it will react with rust and create a durable rust-resistant compound).

Hopefully, your home’s trim is in good condition and is painted a color that complements the home’s color scheme – otherwise, you will need to repaint the trim. While you are at it, replace any boards that are in bad shape.

Front Door

The front door is the first thing a potential buyer will see and touch as they enter your house. It must work perfectly and should not have any blemishes. Repaint or replace it if necessary. The same advice applies to a storm/screen door, if you have one in front of your front door. Consider replacing the hardware, including doorknobs, knockers, kick plates, and the doorbell if they look worn. Finally, take a good look at the lamps by your front door. Clean, paint, or replace them, depending on their condition.

Driveway, Sidewalks and Front Patio

Correct any hazards and power wash the cement if it is discolored and is strong enough to endure a power washing. A blacktop driveway will need to have cracks and other damage repaired. Coating your blacktop driveway with a sealant will make it look more like it was freshly paved and will help correct any uneven appearance caused by repairs you needed to make.

Leaders and Gutters

Correct any visible problems with your leaders and gutters, and be sure that they drain properly so that they don’t ruin the lawn that you just fixed.

5. Fix What’s Broken

All your plumbing fixtures, kitchen appliances, cabinets, doors, lights, mirrors, and windows should be in good condition. Grout and caulk should be touched up or redone if needed, and any mildew or other problems must be corrected.

Remember that the kitchen and bathrooms are the most important rooms to many women and the appearance of these roomscan determine whether or not your house is acceptable.

Any potential buyer that’s seriously interested in your house is going to check these things and will have an inflated idea of what it will cost to fix any problems, or may just avoid buying your house.

6. Heavy-Duty Cleaning

Now that you’ve fixed up your house, it’s time to clean it up, make it sparkle, and make it smell good. I’m talking about dusting and vacuuming everywhere, really scrubbing the floors, walls, shower/bath tiles, toilets, sinks, and getting your kitchen appliances to look fresh again. You can get a housecleaning service to come in and do this and yes, they will do your windows, too.

7. Prioritize and Budget

Remember that you are spending money to make money. A better appearance will help your home sell faster and at a higher price, but there is a point of diminishing returns in terms of time, effort, and money spent on trying to make your house look “perfect”. Set a budget for preparing your house for sale and allocate that money to the items that are most important:

• Go through these tips, inspect your home, and identify those issues about your house that are potential deal-breakers and give them top priority.
• Rank each other issue, giving priority to it based on how important you believe it is to a buyer.
• Now list each item that you know needs to be taken care of, in descending priority order, and put the estimated cost and time next to each item.
• Finally, calculate the cumulative cost and time needed to address the items on your list and stop when you have reached the amount of time and/or money you have budgeted.

Good luck!