Here are some things to consider when preparing your home for sale.

When you decide to sell your home you will need to consider that how you LIVE in your HOME and how you SELL your HOUSE are two very different things!

When you decorate your home you do it to appeal to the personal style and preferences of your family. When it comes to selling your house you have to decorate it to appeal to the widest range of buyers as possible. You want buyers to look at your home and have them imagine themselves living there – not feeling as though they are intruding upon your personal space.

You only have one chance to make a first impression. A small investment in both time and money before putting your home on the market can give your home the advantage over competing homes in your neighbourhood when it is listed for sale. You will need to take a step back and look at your home through the eyes of a buyer.

Here are some items to consider before putting your home on the market:

Interior:

• De-Clutter. Go through your home, room by room, and remove all unnecessary clothing, objects and furniture.
• Pack away all the excess items and if necessary arrange for off-site storage.
• Keeping a few decorative items out is fine but they should be restricted to groups of 1, 3 or 5 items.
• Rearrange/remove furniture. A buyer wants to see SPACE.
• Reduce/rearrange the furniture so that every room appears as large as possible.
• Repurpose your rooms. A buyer wants to see the house as it is – not as it could be. If you are selling a 3 bedroom home – that is what a buyer wants to see – not a 2 bedroom plus an office or junk room.
• A buyer wants to see the room being used as advertised i.e. if at all possible a bedroom being used as an office should be put back as a bedroom, the jigsaw should come off the dining room table, etc.
• Beg, Borrow or Rent. If you don’t have enough furniture or accessories to have your home at its showing best consider borrowing or renting the items to compliment what you have.
• Rearrange/remove pictures or objects on your walls – be sure to patch and paint over any extra nail holes.
• De-personalize your home. Remove all items of a personal nature. (personal photos, certificates, etc.) This will allow the buyer to imagine their own family living it without feeling as though they are invading your private space.
• Minimize access to your personal information and items. Whilst your home is on the market be sure to have a secure place to store valuables, personal papers, etc. or consider renting a safety deposit box.
• Décor. The décor of your home should be neutral throughout – this applies to the colour of the paint on the walls and carpeting/flooring throughout the home.
• If you have wallpaper in any room you might want to consider removing it. Many buyers do not want to be bothered with the mess and aggravation of removing wallpaper. Remove the wallpaper & paint the room in a neutral tone.
• Draperies, Blinds and Carpets. These should be in good repair, clean or cleaned.
• Windows. Clean all windows and patio doors inside and out
• Lighting. Check the lights throughout your home. Replace any burnt out bulbs and make sure that the bulbs are the brightest permitted for that socket.
• Kitchen. Cabinets should be clean – handles & knobs should be clean & firmly fastened, counters should clear of all unnecessary appliances, canisters, knick-knacks, etc.
• Remove from the fridge all notes, pictures, magnets, etc.
• Clean the refrigerator, stove and microwave. Repair any dripping faucets, faulty outlets, etc. Wash and wax the floors
• Bathrooms. Should be thoroughly cleaned. Cabinets clean, handles & knobs clean & firmly attached.
• Counters free of any personal items. Mirrors clean. Repair any dripping faucets. Re-caulk around the tub, shower, and sink as necessary. Floors washed & waxed.
• Closets should be neat & tidy, shelves de-cluttered, shoes tidy.  Pack away off season clothes. It is also a good opportunity to see what items you no longer wear and gather them up and take them to your local charity
• Crawl space & storage closets - clean and tidy. Check that the light fixtures are in good working order and switches easy to get to/well marked.
• Ceiling fans often get overlooked – make sure they are clean and dust free.
• Oil any squeaky door hinges.
• Fix squeaky floors.

Exterior:

• Curb Appeal. Make sure that the exterior paintwork of your home is in good shape – touch up or repaint as necessary.
• Make sure brick work and siding are in good repair. If you have vinyl siding – consider power washing it to freshen it up. Wood siding – check the condition of the paint and touch up or repaint.
• If the front door hardware is looking shabby – consider polishing or replacing.
• Repair or replace any screens or screen doors. Be sure to dust and get rid of any cobwebs around the entrance way.
• Make sure that hedges, shrubs, etc. are not blocking windows. Trim hedges and shrubs as necessary.
• Weed, edge and tidy all flower beds. Dead or dying plants should be removed and replaced.
• Make sure pathways are in good shape – no wobbly stones, loose interlock, etc. repair or replace as necessary.
• Keep driveways and pathways free from all obstacles.
• Relocate garbage cans to a less prominent spot.
• Remove all litter.
• Exterior Lighting. Check wiring. Polish fixtures. Check and replace burnt out bulbs and fixtures as necessary.
• Patios, Decks. Remove all extra items and refresh the items that will stay on the patio or deck. A larger planter will look better than a lot of smaller ones. Make sure the plantings are in good shape – if not remove & replace with healthy plants
• Gutters, Eavestroughs, Soffits. Check and clean out gutters, make sure that all downspouts are properly attached and all other parts of the eavestrough and soffits are in good working order.
• Garage.  VERY important area!  If your garage is presently used to park car(s) in you may just need to do a bit of tidying up, getting rid of cobwebs, minor repairs, sweep the floors and give the floor a quick wash. If, on the other hand, your garage is cluttered and used for storage you will need to tackle this area and be absolutely ruthless in your evaluation of the items and decide whether you REALLY need to keep them!
• Don’t just move the stuff around – evaluate it – then keep it, throw it out, recycle it or consider donating it! The more you get rid of the less you will have to move. Items you keep should be put in containers, labelled and put away tidily. The objective is to demonstrate to a buyer that they can park their cars in the garage if they wish.
• Check that any automatic garage door openers are in good working order. Make sure that the garage door is in good shape, repaint if necessary.
• Check all lighting fixtures and electrical outlets. Replace bulbs, check wiring.
• Dispose of all chemicals, paint, solvents, etc. from previous household projects in an appropriate manner.
• Pools. In summer pools should sparkle. All pool equipment should be in good working order. Repairs made to any equipment or pool area should be made and documented. If listing your home in the ‘off season’ have handy any information that would re-assure the potential buyer as to the condition of the pool. Having photos available of the pool taken in the summer is helpful for feature packages.

Looking ahead to when your home is listed.

When an appointment is made to show your home:

• Turn on all the lights. Leave some on all the time during the day just in case an appointment is booked and you are unable to get home to put all the lights on.
• Have soft music playing all day.
• Make sure pets & people stay out of the way at the time of the showing.
• If you have teenagers/elderly parents – make sure they know about any appointments to save them and the showing sales representative & their client any embarrassment.
• Turn on the Air Conditioning/Furnace to make your home welcoming to the potential buyer
• If appropriate for the time of year and you have a gas fireplace – turn it on.

In addition, if you are at home at the time of the appointment:

• NEVER apologize for the appearance of your home
• Avoid conversation with potential buyers or their sales representative – your response to a ‘casual’ inquiry (e.g. Where are you moving to? Have you bought something yet?) by the sales representative or the potential buyer can seriously impact your negotiating position.
• Your best strategy is to stay out of the way as much as possible and refer all inquiries to your sales representative.