Stage Your Home to Sell it Quickly

Getting ready to sell? Many sellers put their homes on the market, live with the inconvenience of making it available for Realtors and buyers to see it, and then wonder after 2 or 3 months why it hasn’t sold. That’s the wrong way to go about selling a home. You need to get your home ready before the first day it hits the multiple listing service. Your best opportunity to get a sale is that first week when it’s new on the market. If your home doesn’t shine, Realtors and buyers won’t come look again. Even those who see it for the first time after it’s been on the market a while will wonder why it’s still on the market. Many will believe that it is overpriced, whether or not that’s true.

One of the most important things you can do is to make sure your home shows like a model. New home builders know how to stage a home. Take a look at the video above, featuring San Diego new homes by Brookfield. Don’t they look warm and inviting? Your home probably looks inviting to you – after all, it is your home – but you need to take a step back and make it inviting to people who don’t already love it.

First, make sure buyers can see how big and open the space is. Remove the clutter from the kitchen counters. Get rid of furniture, especially any furniture that’s too big for the room. You are going to be moving anyway, so you might as well start packing now? Get a storage unit – it will be well worth the cost if your home sells more quickly. When you’re deciding how much stuff needs to go, don’t use the current situation as a starting point. Instead, start by imagining that the house is empty. Now what does it need? A sofa, a television, a dining table, beds in the bedrooms? It doesn’t need knick-knacks, dvds, more furniture than the bare minimum, etc. Home buyers will imagine moving their things into any house they look at. Make sure they see lots of room to put their stuff. Don’t forget the closets. Buyers will look to see how much room there is. If the closets are packed to the brim, they’re going to imagine that their stuff will barely fit too.

Next, neutralize it. Any personalized features could be less than inviting to some buyers. If you have a room painted burgundy, paint it off-white before you list your house. Look at the model homes. Any kind of buyer could imagine moving into these homes. A buyer will personalize their new home their way over time, but it has to be at least acceptable to anyone right now.

Make sure there’s plenty of light. Add light fixtures, buy additional lamps, or open the drapes. Lots of light makes any space look larger and friendlier.

Curb appeal is the term Realtors use for how does your home look when you first drive up?  I the front yard is a little boring, buyers won’t be excited about going in. If it is messy or overgrown, they will start the showing with a negative feeling. Don’t rely on the Realtor to help potential buyers get past that. They’re as human as the next person. They’ll show their buyers houses that they’re excited about. It sets the tone for the whole showing, so don’t skimp here.

Fix the little things. Are there cracked tiles? Does the lawn have bald spots? Is the kitchen sink chipped? When a home doesn’t sparkle, buyers don’t even realize why they don’t like it. A new coat of paint goes a long way.

Here is the hardest part. It’s your home. It is very difficult – almost impossible – to look at it impartially. You should consider having someone else evaluate the situation. You could hire a professional stager. You could hire someone to do it for you, or to evaluate and make recommendations. Or you could find an impartial person to evaluate it. Your Realtor might not be the best choice because they don’t want to offend you and possibly lose you as a client. It should be someone who isn’t familiar with your home. Otherwise they’ll have the same problem you have. You need to be willing and able to hear the negatives about the home you love, and that’s challenging.  If you can steel yourself to do that, your house will sparkle for the Realtors and buyers who come to look at the newest house on the market. You will be rewarded with a better sale price and a quicker sale.

Rockrose new homes Carlsbad is the newest community by Brookfield San Diego. Stop in and see how beautifully the models show.

See current rates and information on home loans at Ditech.

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