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Do It Yourself Homestaging Tips
Do it now! Before you put the house on the market, because if your house develops a
reputation among potential home buyers and real estate agents... it’ll be too late. Your home could be last on their list.
Most of the preparation to sell your home can be done without spending a lot of money
Curb appeal can make or break you when it comes to the all-important “first impression.”
Trees, shrubs and a neatly manicured lawn add extra appeal to the total look of your home's exterior. You must grab a buyer's interest from the curb if you want to sell the home for top dollar. Remove oil stains from the driveway and garage by scrubbing them with kitty litter. Trim those trees, bushes and shrubs. Put down fresh cedar mulch around trees and shrubs. Give your home's exterior a clean, crisp, fresh feel that says “home.” Old newspapers on the front porch, toys in the driveway, uncut grass, leaves strewn about your front yard, or unscooped snow in the driveway and icy sidewalks can decrease your home's visual appeal during that first impression. Home buyers often refuse to go into a house with an unkept yard, sagging doors or peeling paint.
Put a fresh coat of paint on the front door, it’s the first thing buyers see before they enter your home.
Replace or repair worn out & loose exterior door knobs and hardware. Replace or repair broken storm doors, torn window screens and loose hand rails. Oil squeaky door hinges.
House odors are number one on the home selling “uh-oh” list.
Odors from cigarette smoke and pets take top billing, with mildew not far behind. If you smoke indoors, the houses smells like cigarettes… clean the drapes and shampoo the carpets. If you have pets, the house will smell bad to buyers that don’t have pets, even if you don't notice it. Ask someone who doesn't live there to take a sniff, and don't get angry when they tell you the truth. Eradicate odors so you can present potential buyers with a clean, fresh atmosphere--not a house that's full of perfumes to cover up the odors. Too much perfume, scented candles and potpourri make buyers suspicious of what you may be trying to cover up.
Buy new hand towels for the kitchen. Clear the kitchen counters. If you don’t use it everyday put it away.
Remove all those small kitchen appliances from the counter top, they make your kitchen look small... put them away out of sight in the cabinets below. Mix 1 pint of Clorox with 1 pint water, use this mixture to remove mold and mildew, and pour it down the kitchen sink disposal to kill germs & bacteria that cause bad odors. Take the dirty dishes out of the sink and clean the inside of your dishwasher. Clean the kitchen stainless steel sink with stainless steel cleaner and make it shine.
Grimy bathrooms are an instant turnoff.
If you're serious about selling your home, clean bathrooms are not optional and the extra work is a must. Scrub them, paint them, buy new shower curtains, rugs and bath towels… do whatever it takes to make the bathroom shine. Replace that old toilet seat and any outdated, grimy faucets with sparkling new ones. Remove all your personal care items from the bathroom countertop and the shower/bathtub. Clean floor tiles and re-grout if necessary.
Wipe down all the interior walls with soap and water
.
Clean wood cabinets, built-in bookcases, fireplace mantles, and any other woodwork or trim with a wood cleaning product like Olde English Oil.
Clean and dust ceiling fans. Replace broken or worn out interior door knobs and hardware. Repair any holes in the drywall. Fill all the nail holes and touch up with matching paint.
Hang pictures at eye level
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As a general guideline, eye level is when the center of a picture or a group of pictures is about sixty (60) inches from the floor.
Take down all those family pictures on the walls. They distract buyers. Remove that wall of family pictures. And if you just can’t live without a few family pictures then hang your favorites in a group of three or five.
Tidy up. If you have a lot of furniture or other “stuff,” put some of it in storage.
Move furniture 1 ½ to 2 feet away from walls to create the illusion of more space. Get rid of that huge coffee table in the living room; it makes the room look smaller. Put away those displays of your collectibles and knickknacks. Remove those fridge magnets. Put away those piles of paperwork and mail. Vacuum and shampoo the carpets. Scrub, clean or wax the other flooring.
Let the light in. A dark house is a big turn off.
Open up the blinds, let the light in and turn on all the lights for showings during the daytime and/or evenings. Make sure that the kitchen area is especially sunshine bright and shiny. Turn on all those accent lights and lamps in the living room, family room, den and bedrooms. Make sure all lamps and lights have working light bulbs, and replace any low wattage bulbs with the highest watt bulb allowed by the light fixture manufacturer. Replace those dirty yellowed covers on fluorescent ceiling lights.
Replace outdated light fixtures; they make your home feel old. If necessary, install additional light fixtures. Remove heavy drapes to let the light stream through windows. Repaint some rooms with colors that reflect light. Trim tree limbs that shadow the house. Dirty and fogged windows are another buyer turnoff. Clean them inside and out to bring in more light. Try using old newspaper and Windex to clean your windows. If possible, replace any double-pane windows with broken seals. You can find them by looking for a foggy residue that cannot be removed. If your have an unfinished basement, then paint the cement walls white to brighten things up.
Busy wallpaper in every room turns off most buyers
, and even people who love wallpaper rarely like what you've chosen. It's a personal decorative touch that they want to select themselves. It's the masses you must appeal to when you're selling a home, so take a hard look at your wallpaper and decide if it should be removed and replaced with paint. Try sponging a 50/50 mixture of liquid fabric softener and water on the wallpaper, then let it soak for 1/2 hour before you remove it. Don't paint over it, because it will be obvious that you did and buyers know that it makes removing wallpaper even more difficult.
Dampness or damp smells in the basement throw up a red flag to buyers!
Most problems we see are not caused by faulty foundations. They occur because rainwater is being diverted towards the foundation instead of away from it. Check for clogged underground drains, no rain gutters along the roofline, and downspouts aimed the wrong way or missing. Go outside the next time it rains and determine where runoff water is going. Clean their gutters so buyers won’t wonder what else hasn't been maintained.
Bugs … Get rid of them all.
Roaches, ants, spiders and any other insects should not be in the house. Look for cobwebs in the ceiling corners. Remove dead bugs from the ceiling light fixtures.
The fireplace hearth is still an important feature to most buyers
, especially as days grow colder. Make sure yours is clean. Spray Dow foaming bath cleaner on the bricks to remove smoke stains and tar. Place a log in the fireplace or consider placing an attractive candelabra or candleholder that holds several candles in the fireplace for a decorator's touch.
Remove pets during showings if possible.
Dogs frighten some people and irritate others. You’ll have a much better response from showings if you control your pets. You say you plan to put them in a bedroom or garage and then ask people not to open the door to that area? Bad idea; would you buy a house you can’t inspect? Of course not. If you must leave pets in the house, then contain them in crates for their own safety and to show respect for the feelings of potential buyers. Use a fabric softener sheet to remove cat hair from your couch, drapes, etc.
Leave the house during showings.
Yes, You need to leave!! Home buyers feel awkward about opening closet doors and lingering for a really good look at the house if the seller is home.
For more valuable home marketing tips
CALL DAVE HASSEBROOK @ (402) 690-5515
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