Have you been looking at selling your home? Want to upgrade your space or are you ready to find your retirement home? Is the stress of selling your current home holding you back from finally taking this step?
Don’t let the thought of selling your home overwhelm you into not taking that next step in your life. One great way to help destress and focus on what needs to be done is by simply making a checklist.
When it comes to selling your home there are several things that you will need to consider doing. So here is an easy to understand list that will help you get ready to sell your home!
1. You Need to Find a Great Real Estate Agent
- Making sure to find a certified real estate agent to help you sell your home will be crucial to your success. Some homeowners want to sell their homes themselves to help them save money. A real estate agent is there to make sure that you get the most for your property that you possibly can. They are also there to help you through the negotiation period when things start to get tricky.
2. Find a Good Tax Attorney
- Finding a good tax attorney can be difficult but this is another key point to selling your home. Tax attorneys are able to deal with more than just an accountant. A tax attorney knows all of the in’s and out’s when it comes to selling your home and the IRS.
- Usually you will only need a tax attorney if the home was an investment property or if there are any other unusual factors in play with selling your home.
Preparing Your Home:
3. Start Outside & Work Your Way In
- Making sure that the lawn is nice and green with fertilizer and that it remains frequently mowed is important to increase your homes curb appeal.
- Trimming up any shrubbery as well as overgrown trees will help make your home look clean and tidy.
- Adding some nice pops of color with flowers either planted in flower beds or in decorative pots on your porch is a great way to help add appeal to your home.
- Cleaning sticks and any other debris from your front yard will keep things looking tidy.
- Sweeping your driveway and your front porch as well as cleaning the driveway and the siding on the house is also important. Using a power washer is one of the best and quickest ways to clean dirt and debris outside.
- Really the key to giving your home curb appeal is to make it look like it’s been kept up nicely. Adding a little pop of color with flowers or decorative pieces is also nice to draw attention and make the place look vibrant. But be careful with this. You want to keep any flowers or decorations to a more neutral feel.
4. Paint Everything!
- A new coat of paint will work wonders on your home! You can wipe down walls and clean really well but opting to paint will really help make your home look new.
- Painting is by far the cheapest way to increase your homes value.
- Painting the outside of the house also adds to the curb appeal of your home. Even if you take the time to properly clean the siding, the trim and the gutters, there is just no comparing it to a fresh coat of paint.
5. Get Rid of the Clutter & Personals
- One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make when they try to sell their home themselves is not taking their personal belongings and the clutter into consideration.
- Even if you need to rent a storage unit temporarily, you need to get the clutter and knick knacks out of the house. You might think that your grandmother’s old porcelain doll collection is really beautiful but a potential buyer might not share those same feelings.
- You want to make a potential buyer feel like this could really be their home. However, if they are walking into every room and seeing pictures of your family vacation or of the time your son graduated kindergarten they lose that magical feeling of finding their dream home and instead continue to picture your family living there. The goal is to make them see themselves living there.
Clean the House From Top to Bottom:
- When trying to sell your home you will want to make sure everything is as clean as the day the house was first built (or at least close to it).
6. Kitchen
- Remove as much as you can from the countertops such as appliances and most decorative accents. You want the buyer to see all of the potential countertop space. This will also make the kitchen appear larger.
- Make sure all surfaces are clean including the stove top.
- Scrub inside of the stove until it looks spotless.
- Clean the fridge/freezer and keep a minimal amount of things in the fridge to help it appear larger and not so cluttered.
- You will want to pull out your fridge and your stove and clean under as well as behind. A lot more dust and dirt builds up back there than you might think.
- Clear out a lot of clutter from the cabinets and pantries.
- Clean inside and out of the cabinets as well as the front and back of all cabinet doors and the door knobs. Repair any damages.
7. Bathrooms
- Clean the counters/faucets and remove any hard water stains.
- Clean the toilet bowl, as well as behind the toilet and use pumice stone to remove any hard water stains.
- Scrub the bath or shower and remove any possible mildew stains and recaulk around the tub and shower if need be.
- Clean the inside of your bathroom cabinets as well as the inside vanity mirror.
- Clean tile grout with special grout cleaner.
- Remove hard water calcium or rust from the shower head as well as the faucet.
- Clean mirror(s).
8. Bedrooms
- Make sure to clean floors by either sweeping and mopping or by vacuuming and having the carpets cleaned.
- Remember to dust everything! Ceiling fans, corners around the room, as well as any furniture.
- Wipe down the mouldings as well as the walls and the doors.
- Clear any clutter from tops of the furniture as well as closets or other storage areas.
9. Living Room
- Your living room is going to be one of the most important rooms when it comes to selling your home. Cleaning everything is going to be important! Start off with the dusting and wiping down the walls.
- Make sure to clean any stains on the carpet as well as vacuum or clean tile and grout.
- Remember to clean around the moulding and to clear away any clutter or knick knacks that are lying around.
10. Miscellaneous Things
- Scrub all floors as well as all the baseboards.
- Vacuum out all vents and any carpet.
- Dust all rooms and all surfaces as well as window blinds.
- Make sure before any open house to either grind up a lemon in the garbage disposal so your home will smell fresh and clean.
- Staging your home is actually something that is highly recommended! Staging your home will help you sell faster and often for more.
