Eleven Tips on Getting Your Home Ready for “Showtime”
Categories: Chattanooga Real Estate News, For Home Sellers, Home Maintenance
By David Israel, Business Manager
In past blogs I frequently talked about the importance of the ”first impression” factor to potential buyers who are looking to purchase a home - hopefully yours. Always remember and never forget, “You only have one opportunity to make a first impression!” Below you will find some great tips for getting your home ready for showings to potential buyers and their agents. There are two major areas to address, inside and outside; both are equally important.
INSIDE - CLEAN! CLEAN! CLEAN! - Have the carpet shampooed; wax the floors; wash the walls, windows, blinds, drapes and lighting fixtures. Consider engaging a cleaning service - they will certainly get the heavy work done and your house will sparkle.
1. Kitchen and Bathrooms - Clear off counter tops, just leave items neccessary to cook and little else. The goal is to 
maximize the available counter space. Clean the stove, refrigerator and microwave. Both of these rooms should be gleaming. If the bathroom is unsightly, have the tub re-caulked and remove mineral deposits and grime from the shower walls.
2. Primary Storage Area - Like the garage, its time has come to be liberated. Remember, you can do it now and benefit with a more attractive home on the market, or you can do it several months from now, in the process of moving when there is no advantage. Do it now!
3. Repairs - Identify and repair dripping faucets, sticking or creaking doors, etc. When buyers see areas of disrepair they begin to wonder whether there may be other unseen problems and move on to another home.
4. Closets - Remove out of season clothing. Organize your shoes and clothing (pants together, shirts in color order, dresses in length sizes), this may sound corny, but when buyers open a closet door, they don’t want to be distracted by disorganization. Remove all clutter from cabinets and closets.
5. Furniture - The less furniture, the larger a room will appear to be.
6. Let the Sun Shine In - We have talked about this several times in past blogs. As a rule, do everything to lighten the appearance of the home. Open drapes, raise the blinds and use light colors. Clean the windows inside and out. Repaint any dark room or one with the paint beginning to look shabby.
OUTSIDE - Ask a neighbor to come over and walk the property together with a pad and pencil. List anything that you think is less than satisfactory without regard to cost or time. Your neighbor will pick up on more items than you. You look at your house everyday and your eyes have been “trained” to miss the obvious. You can review the list afterwards to determine what you can and cannot repair.
7. The House - Take a look as you walk the property. Clean anything that looks unkempt or dirty; repair or replace anything that looks loose, dingy, rusted or broken. Make sure the door bell works. Replace the mail box if it is looking old and tired. Clean the exterior light fixtures and wash the windows. Try to spot hanging or rusty gutters, loose shingles or shutters. Anything you can do to make that first impression a good one will help you in the long run.
8. The Yard - Turn and weed the beds, trim your trees and shrubs, lay in new ground cover. Don’t buy the most expensive mulch, but if you have beds that need it, this is the easiest way to brighten up a bed. Pick up litter around the yard and fix any gates or fences you may have that are in need of repair. Consider a landscaping/lawn service to help you get started or do the work yourself.
9. Outdoor Furniture - Examine and spot paint your outdoor furniture. If it is rusty or unrepairable consider getting rid of it. Again, your outdoor space is a living space so treat it as you would your living room. During the Spring, Summer and Fall we use our outdoor spaces as an extension of our home.
10. Front Entry - IT IS THE FIRST THING A BUYER WILL SEE STANDING AT YOUR FRONT DOOR! It is worth the extra effort to spruce it up; it is the biggest first impression a buyer will remember.
11. The Garage - This will be the most difficult project, but the time has come. Discard virtually everything in the garage that hasn’t been used for a year. Either throw it out or rent a storage space. Since you are eventually are going to have to go through everything, it is better to take your time now then while you are in a mad scramble to move. Have a yard sale, the proceeds could pay for a storage facility for a few months. Finally wash down the garage. Make sure the floors are free of oil stains, if you take everything out, painting the floor is not a bad idea.
Well, I hope that I have given you some valuable tips and tricks for getting your home ready for the Buyer to view. These items will not be completed in a day, no matter how hard you work and try to complete it. Give yourself the time up front before your house goes on the market. Any good Realtor, will go through your house with a buyer’s mentality and find the things that you need to do to sell your home. You might as well takle these items as early as possible. The benefits can be thousands of dollars in your pocket when the home sells because you made a great first impression!
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Very good. Cleaning, staging and unloading “things” makes a tremendous difference in how a property is viewed.
I tell some of my clients that they should look at their property through the lens of a camera. What they see in the lens is what the buyer sees.
If they don’t like what they are looking at only they can make it different.
And it doesn’t matter as to the value of the property. It could be a $ 50,000 property or a $ 20 million dollar property. Making it look good counts.
John Duffner
John, Thanks for your comment and I obviously agree. I sometimes tell my sellers that their home should look like a high end hotel room without all the little signs! And you’re right, it doesn’t matter what price - staging matters. Thanks for reading our blog. Andy
Super ideas- love the garage. I tell people to photograph their rooms and then take a look at them on their computer. It is surprising how much more “decluttering” happens after they look at the pictures.
ksk