Preparation is the most important step in a home sale—especially in a buyer’s market where buyers have a lot of homes to compare. Making your home stand out from the competition will bring a quicker sale at a better price.
Some preparations can be costly but not necessary. The most important things to consider are those that will give your home a fresh look. Here are some tips to help you get results!

1. Be objective when you look at your home. You have loved it, but a buyer might not think that custom orange powder room is quite so charming. Turn on all the lights and do a walk-through while pretending to be a buyer.
2. Start with the entry. Is the front door a little scuffed up and are the planters looking scruffy? Your entry is the first impression. Be sure it is clean, freshly painted and appealing. Add flowers in the planters, and be sure the porch light fixture is clean and has all the bulbs working.
3. Stand in front of your home at the street. Does it have the all important “curb appeal?” Does the roof have stains that need professional removal? A streaked roof will detract. The driveway, walk and perhaps the exterior will need power washing to bring them up to snuff.
4. The lawn needs to be edged, the shrubbery trimmed and the planting beds cleaned up and freshly mulched. Trees need to be trimmed back from the house and roof.
5. Is your garage the “catch-all” for everything that needs another home—the trash or Goodwill? Take it all away and be sure the garage is painted. If the floor is stained, you might consider putting down an opaque plastic covering. This material is rather thick plastic, comes in rolls and is readily available at home supply stores.
6. Repair and tighten all the things in your home that wiggle when you use them, such as door knobs, hinges, plugs, faucets, switches etc. Be sure that the door bell rings.
7. If there is room in the budget for painting, this will be money well spent. Just be sure that you use neutral colors that are warm and inviting. If in doubt, ask the paint store what colors builders are buying for new homes.
8. Clean up the closets. Get rid of everything you don’t need or have not used for a year. Organize what you must have in plastic boxes and hang clothes about an inch apart on the rods. The shelving should be firmly attached, and the clothing and linens neatly stacked.
9. Your home needs to look spacious and uncluttered. Rent a storage place and take all the unnecessary furniture there. Take all the small accessories off the tables and shelves. Use only a few necessary pieces of furniture in each room and accessorize with large pottery, pictures and books. Use only a couple of major colors in each room and one accent color in pillows and pictures. Remove all family photos.
10. Wash all the windows and chandeliers. Take down all window treatments that are dated or would not go with any type of décor. Raise or open the blinds to allow maximum light to enter the home. Remember that you are competing, in many cases, with new homes. They have no windows coverings making them light and bright.
11. Give the kitchen a thorough cleaning. Organize the shelves in the cabinets, refrigerator and pantry. The kitchen needs to sparkle and smell clean. Remember that old oil smells, so clean up each time you cook with a degreaser. Be sure to clean the filter in the exhaust fan frequently.
12. Listen to your toilets to be sure they are flushing properly and not continuing to run or re-flushing periodically. If the toilet rocks, tighten it carefully. Clean all fixtures daily. Be sure the ventilator is working and not excessively loud.
13. Wash all the baseboards and door facings. If needed, repaint or touch up.
14. Have an expert clean the carpets and remove stains. Periodically use carpet freshener to remove odors.
15. You love your pets, but everybody won’t! Be sure to have a private place for them when you are showing the home. They and their quarters need to be cleaned frequently. Pets, as loving as they are, create unpleasant pet odors.
16. Get rid of the plastic plants around your house. They are dust collectors. Get real plants to replace them, but be sure to protect your floors from possible leakage. Use large plants in corners or hallways.
17. Replace all the bulbs in your light fixtures and lamps with the maximum wattage bulbs allowed. Turn on all the lights when showing your home.
18. Call a good REALTOR. We probably know one!

From: The Atlanta Real Estate Blog 

This entry was posted on Friday, January 26th, 2007 at 12:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.