First impressions count! 5 tips to prep your home for sale.

Considering selling your house? There is lots to do before listing your home!

We all want top dollar for our homes, right? It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get down to work before listing your home.

Read through this checklist for some things you can knock off in less than an hour, while others might take weeks and require hiring professional help.

1) Create Curb Appeal
It’s important that your home makes a good first impression. That certainly includes outside as much as it does inside. Buyer’s are likely to do a drive by the property before actually setting up an appointment to view and or visiting a scheduled open house. Listen to that good old advice our mom’s gave us, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Make sure the outside is well-kept, tidy and inviting. It’s important to power wash the driveway and walkways, touch-up or completely repaint the trim and front door, keep the lawn freshly cut, shrubs and trees trimmed, and the flower beds spruced up with fresh topsoil and brightly coloured flowers. The entryway is equally important. Change out the entrance mat and include seasonal plants or décor if space permits.

2) Declutter & Depersonalize
One of the easiest things to do that won’t cost you a penny is declutter and depersonalize your home. It’s important to get into the mindset that you are wanting to put something on the market that a buyer can imagine themselves living in. Think of it as turning your home into a show home. Simply put, it’s time to pack up your family photos, memorabilia, collections and personal keepsakes. As well as clear off all surfaces in places such as the kitchen and bathroom counters. Minimize the amount of furniture you have too and leave as much open space as possible. A home stager might be worth considering hiring to assist with arranging your furniture and décor to best showcase your homes floor plan to maximize the use of the space.

3) Finish Projects and Repairs That Need Attending To
Often homeowners have a couple of projects that never seem to get finished. Like that new mirror they plan on putting up in the bathroom. I speak from experience. It took me until the Pandemic to finish painting the trim in my house that had sat for years after we had completed our renovations. Now is the time to get those projects complete. Take it to the finish line.
Have a good look around the house and make sure anything and everything that needs to be fixed is fixed before listing your home. Look for things like leaky faucets, chipped baseboards, stained ceilings, broken items, burnt out light bulbs. Buyers will notice all of these deficiencies and will ask themselves if these items are outstanding what other maintenance hasn’t been done throughout the house.
Money well worth spending is getting a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Keep the colours as neutral as possible. Neutrals help make the home appear bigger, brighter and more welcoming, and convey a blank slate to potential buyers.

4) Clean, Clean, & Clean!
This might be the most important step you take to get your home sold. Perhaps it’s worth considering hiring a cleaning crew. A deep clean before the house goes on the market is well worth it’s money. I would also suggest getting the carpets professionally cleaned too, it might bring new life to them, preventing you from perhaps replacing them. Not only does it help with that first impression, it leaves you with just needing to do the maintenance between showings.
And yes, buyers do look in closets and cabinets – so I highly recommend you clean them out. There never seems to be enough storage, so instead of using this space to store all the personal stuff I suggest you rent off premise storage to house half of your belongings while your house is on the market. Or if need be place items in labeled rubber storage bins and place in the garage neatly ready for move out day.

5) Hire the right Real Estate Agent.
It’s important to interview a few real estate agents before hiring the one that works best for you. Start by asking friends and family for a recommendation. Or contact your local brokerage or search online to find an agent in your area. An agent’s job is to handle many aspects of selling your home including researching the market, marketing the property, coordinate viewings, and negotiating the price. Your agent will research comparable properties in your area to assist in setting a realistic price. They are there to provide peace of mind during the selling process. The ideal person will know the local market, and have your best interest in mind. Ultimately, you should have a good feeling about them. Trust your gut. Go with the person who you feel will serve you best during the course of your relationship with them.

This list will pay off and ensure you get top dollar. Depending on the extent of the work you need to complete make sure to give yourself enough time (2-6 weeks) to complete before having your real estate agent list your property.