Four piles ! – that’s the bottom line.

• Toss it.
• Donate it.
• Sell it.
• Keep, organize and store it.

1. Wash or paint the walls and trim. Wash light switches. Please make windows spotless. No dust anywhere. Any closet, wall space, furniture inclusions in a given room & the garage or basement areas should be no more than 60% occupied – otherwise they look like the home lacks sufficient space for ‘stuff’.
2. Those new fixtures you’ll install need bright bulbs! Windows/ shades open all the way.
3. If you have hanging wires, your post-accepted offer inspector can cost you dearly. Don’t let those unstapled wires in the basement or garage beg for concessions – or worse – make the buyer walk.
4. Trim back the bushes and make the house look bigger! Bright colored flowers on the porch. Water, fertilize and trim the lawn impeccably.
5. Spend on bright, clean, new items including house plants to add $’s to the sale, get quicker responses, and bonus, you get to those bold wall hangings & new area rugs with you!
   • >> Please! Look at the decor in ‘on-markets’ and recently sold comps. If you are all ‘brass’ trimmed & they are brushed nickel, eBay or Home Depot are your best friend to swap knobs/ handles/ & lighting fixtures – inside and out. You’ll have only yourself to blame if you leave thousands behind because you didn’t spent hundreds to increase appeal.

If a seller wants to get the same price the neighbors got for their property, then I have expectations for them too !

Read the entire list with a caveat, e.g., I’d put kitchen bath rehab higher on the list, but if yours in no more than 5 years old and you clean clean clean, then its off the list. You get the idea.

Above is the jest of today’s suggested reading.

I have my own pre-listing checklist I provide as part of your marketing package to use  before putting you’re home live on the MLS or a sign in the yard. But here is a good related article from the “again, curb appeal brings intrigue, but people like clean homes, especially in eating and grooming areas”.

• Article
• More
• Staging

1.  We want to test the market.  For how long ? Whats the exact plan, 90 days ? And the 91st day?  Price reduction– 90 days worth of potential buyers gone.

2.  It costs too much.  Staging costs virtually always less than the first price reduction…and carrying costs. ?

3.  We can’t, we’re living in it.  .. common misconception..   

4.  We didn’t have to stage any of the other properties we sold .  Once you could generate three offers by 5 p.m. the same day your Realtor put the sign in the yard.  Not now.

5.  Everyone loves our house .   Sellers are often baffled .. amazed that buyers have found things they don’t like about the property.

6. We can clean the carpets and declutter without someone telling us how.  Do you know what separates  “clutter” from “asset”?  And what about traffic flows, highlighting architectural features, updating, and appealing to your target market?

7.  We have no desire to remove/change our ____ (wallpaper/mirrored tile/gold faucets/paneling/dated light fixtures . . .).  neither do buyers.  Be ready to sell at a deep discount. 

8.  The view will sell this place.  Then why many months later are these great view homes/condos still on the market?

9.  We would rather let the buyers makes their own paint/flooring choices.  And that equals a price reduction, double or triple the cost of these items and reflect that in their discounted offer price–which includes inconvenience.

10. Our home is professionally decorated.  … tailored to the owner’s particular needs.  Does it work for the new buyer’s needs?

… consult with a professional home stager before listing your property for sale.

Every home that goes on sale needs a makeunder. The less of you, the quicker your home will sell. The bigger and more spacious your home looks the higher it’s perceived value.

“Put your junk in a storage locker, neaten, fix the wobbly ceiling fan–and do it before you call your Realtor.”

…. Many of the best professional home sellers will shy away from putting a lot of time into selling your home if it’s a mess.

The only home improvement Sudler recommends is painting. Even there, he advises limiting the work to covering blemishes and repainting any rooms that have overly bright or outdated colors. More

10) Leave your “friendly” dog roaming free inside the house when you know we are coming to see it.

Not all buyers are dog people.

9) Leave something aromatic cooking in the crock pot for your dinner that night

Not all buyers are going to be fans of your food choices.

8) Keep photos of your family up throughout the house

Guess what they are not doing?  Looking at your house.

7) Keep all your nick knacks out

I know they are precious to you but honestly they are distracting to the buyer.

6) Make it difficult for me to show your house

…. if our appointment time does not work for you don’t be surprised when we don’t reschedule.  The buyer is likely to have moved on.

5) To continue on the pet theme, leave your cat roaming free throughout the house with a note by the front door stating “Please do not let the cat out”.

Again the focus has been shifted away from your home.

4) Don’t replace burned out light bulbs or use low wattage bulbs.

3) Close all the curtains and turn off all the lights

When we walk into the house instead of immediately noticing the great things about the house we are going to be fumbling around looking for light switches.

2) Turn the heat down

One of the quickest ways to drive a potential buyer out of your house is to make them view a cold house in stocking feet.  It is hard to admire the spacious kitchen when your feet are being flash frozen by the cold tile floors.

1) Stay in your home while we are showing it