There’s lots you should do when getting your home ready to sell that will bring you top dollar! I am here as your professional Realtor to guide you through the process of getting your home ready to sell and to help you make your home shine!
This guide has been carefully put together after years of working with buyers and sellers. I pay very close attention to what buyers notice, not just what they say. I know what they look for, what they find appealing and what things turn them off. Following the advice included here will help your home sell for the most money in the shortest amount of time. While it may seem like a lot to do or you may think some of it is insignificant, I promise it’s well-worth it!
Please take the time to read my Google Reviews. I’m confident you will hear from sellers who found my recipe to sell to be very successful!
Replace as needed
Light Bulbs
There’s a reason it is FIRST on the list AND all in BOLD! In my professional opinion and experience, this is NOT one to be skipped!
Prior to photography being done of your home, it’s vital that you change all of your lightbulbs to the brightest lightbulbs you can buy. This would be 900-1300 lumen light bulbs and/or highest wattage, 75-100 watt bulbs. A sales associate at any hardware store can help you find this. This will make your home shine for buyers. Be sure that the bulbs you buy are labeled cool white, true white, or bright white on the Kelvin Scale and that your choice is consistent throughout the home.
Buyers want bright, light homes. This is a worthwhile investment and, in my opinion, CANNOT BE SKIPPED. Now, if you don’t normally live with light this bright, it will seem very different and you may even think I’ve lost my mind! But, if you go over to see new construction home models (which I suggest you do), this is what you will find.
Home designers for new construction know that buyers are looking for bright, light homes! Even though this light may, in part, be artificial, all a buyer will think is how bright your home is!
Outlets, Switch Plates, Air Vent Covers and More!
Outlets and Switch Plates
This is a simple and inexpensive endeavor. Yellowing or just non-white switch plate and outlet covers make your home look dated. New construction homes use white switch plate and outlet covers. These are very inexpensive and can be bought by the box on Amazon or at home improvement stores.
Air Vent Covers/Can Lights
Basically, any plastics around your home that have yellowed should be switched for bright white. I’ve seen some people spraypaint these. You’ll be shocked at what a BIG difference this makes!
Inside and Outside Door Hardware
Most newer homes have either silver, black or brushed chrome door hardware. This update can be a little pricier but also worthwhile on interior and exterior doors but is recommended if your hardware is overly scratched, rusted, or in disrepair. Should you feel so inclined and want to save some money, these can also be spray painted.
HVAC Filters
This should be a regular part of your home maintenance to get a full life from your HVAC system. Also, there’s nothing like a dirty air filter to let a buyer know that your home hasn’t been well-cared for. Changing the air filter will also help improve the smell of your home.
Deep Clean EVERYTHING!
- WALLS
- BLINDS/WINDOW COVERINGS
- CARPET
- CEILINGS
- DOORS
- BASEBOARDS
- WINDOWS IN/OUT
- AIR VENTS
- CEILING FANS
- TILE AND GROUT
This is a great time to bring in the pros! As your Realtor representing you in the sale of your home, I pay to have your home deep cleaned by professionals. It’s one of the services I provide to get your home into showing condition. Air vents (grills and registers) are often overlooked. Dirty vents are an indication of how your home was cared for while you lived in it.
Smells and Odors
I’ve had buyers turn and leave homes with unpleasant smells. Unpleasant smells have a big, negative impact on how your home will present to buyers. We need to get rid of unpleasant odors.
Pet Odors
If you have pets, assume your home smells like you have pets! We become nose-blind to the smells in our homes (and your friends are too polite to tell you so don’t bother asking).
To help reduce pet odors, store your pet’s food and litter in air-tight containers. While you are getting your home cleaned and ready it’s a great opportunity to have your pets professionally groomed. This will hopefully reduce shedding in your nice clean home and prevent any ‘new’ odors if possible.
Other Home Odor Issues
If you regularly fry or cook pungently smelling foods (onions, garlic, curries, fish, etc), your home has likely taken on these odors. No matter how delicious the food, the odors left behind seep into your soft surfaces, carpets and walls leaving behind unpleasant odors.
If someone in your home smokes or just smokes outside – don’t be fooled; buyers can smell it in your house! Do the necessary cleaning like having carpets, upholstered furniture and curtains professionally cleaned to help remove or minimize these odors.
What To Do and What NOT TO DO
DO NOT USE scented candles, plug-in air fresheners, and/or spray air cleaners/perfumes. These are often too strong and I’ve found buyers to find them to be unpleasant. Also, in my experience, when buyers smell these heavy perfume odors they will often comment wondering what smell the homeowner is trying to cover.
If you feel your home has a stale smell, just prior to showings you can boil a pot of water on the stove with a healthy dose of cinnamon, vanilla and an orange cut in half. Leave it simmering while getting your home ready. You can also use a crock pot and let it simmer all day long in the time leading up to your first showing (unplug when you aren’t home). My secret recipe smells like cinnamon buns and who can be offended by cinnamon buns?
Solutions for Removing Odors From Your Home
Have your carpeting professionally cleaned! (Also, have the carpeting stretched if needed.) Professionally cleaning your carpet will improve the smell of your home and it also brings a new life to older carpeting.
Professional carpet cleaners can also deep clean upholstered furniture like couches as well as curtains. Don’t skip this!
All soft surfaces in your home hold smells – wash bedding, throw blankets and other similar items to make your home look and smell clean. Keeping an air purifier running in rooms where pets spend most of their time can help too. Remove these during showings.
For extreme issues – replacing carpeting, painting the interior of the home, having air ducts cleaned and/or removing your furniture (which may be holding on to unpleasant odors) and opting to stage the home can help. Additionally, your local Home Depot/Lowes usually have ozone generator machine rentals available that will help solve your odor issues. Read more about how these machines work HERE.
Furnishings and Home Decor
As your Realtor, I will help advise you on how to make your home shine and guide you through the information below.
- Rearrange furniture to maximize floor space.
- Less is MORE! Consider moving some of your furniture into storage.
If the furniture in your house doesn’t allow clear pathways for walking, if you have to twist and turn to get past furniture like you’re working your way through a maze, or if furniture is blocking windows, doors or the view of a beautiful home feature (pool, lake, etc), put it into storage! - Pack away all knick-knacks, collections, and family heirlooms.
I show a lot of property. At the end of the day my clients and I regroup and discuss what we saw. Do you want your home remembered as the one with the HUGE Hummel collection, the wall full of antique tea cups or would you prefer home buyers to notice and admire your tall ceilings, millwork, and custom closets? We want buyers looking at your home. We don’t want your stuff getting the attention. - Prune and nurture houseplants. Remove or replace dead or dying plants. Reduce or add houseplants to a balanced number.
- Declutter and organize bookshelves and built-ins to Pinterest perfection. Click HERE to see what I mean.
- Reduce wall art to one or two items per room.
- Pack away any awards, diplomas, and family photos.
- Add lamps to dark areas.
(The photos below are of the same room before and after. See the improvements?)
Interior Painting
New, interior paint can have multiple benefits. One, the smell of fresh paint has a psychological effect on home buyers indicating new. Two, if the home has lingering or stale odors, the smell of fresh paint will help to improve that. Three, painting home neutral colors helps buyers picture your home as theirs. Four, updating the pain colors in your home to a more modern or neutral color palette can help improve the whole look of your home making it look brighter, larger, and more up to date.
Ask your Realtor if your home can use a paint refresher and ask for a color recommendation. At a minimum, touch up any holes in the walls, scuffed and/or dirty areas. Don’t neglect trim and doors.
Check out my post, Staging Your Home For Sale for painting before and after photos.
The Kitchen
The old saying, kitchens and bathrooms sell homes, is very TRUE! If you’re going to spend money to improve your home in anticipation of selling, you can’t go wrong putting that money towards your kitchen and/or bathrooms. In addition to any improvements that will have great financial return, be sure to do the following:
- Clear kitchen counters COMPLETELY. Put away coffee makers, toasters and other appliances.
- Clean your stove, oven and refrigerator. If your refrigerator conveys with the sale of your home, it’s even a good idea to clean inside because people will look!
- Clear the outside of refrigerator of magnets, photos, calendar, business cards, and papers. Nothing should be on the surface of your refrigerator.
- Organize your pantry to Pinterest perfection! People are suckers for a well-organized pantry and find an unorganized, over-stuffed pantry to be a negative. Click HERE
- Pack up any dishes, pots, pans, mugs, glasses, and appliances that you can live without during the selling process. You want to clear out space in your cabinets. Overstuffed and filled cabinets and drawers tell buyers your kitchen isn’t functional and lacks adequate storage.
- Consider updating cabinet hardware and drawer pulls if needed. New, trendy drawer and cabinet hardware can help give an out-of-date kitchen a new look.
(If you’re wondering how much all of this really matters, look at the before and after photos below. Does it matter?)
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The Bathrooms
As stated earlier, kitchens and bathrooms sell homes! Following the suggestions below and/or investing some money to improve these rooms can have big returns. Your bathroom should be an oasis of comfort and luxury. Think spa but at a minimum – clean, fresh, and organized.
- Deep clean every area of the bathroom.
- Have tile and grout professionally cleaned. Ask your Realtor if painting your grout would make it look updated and fresh. You can also ask your Realtor about peel and stick tiles to replace an old, worn out bathroom. Don’t laugh! These exist now and they are very nice!
- Thin out your linen closet to the bare necessities. We want buyers remark about the abundance of storage in your home. Overstuffed, disorganized linen closets will make buyers think your home lacks proper storage. Want to be a super hero home seller? Consider storing your old towels and linens and staging with new, fresh, fluffy towels and baskets like the photo below. Stage your linen closets to Pinterest perfection! CLICK HERE
- Clean glass shower doors and mirrors so they are perfectly clean and clear.
- Remove ALL items from showers and bathtubs for showings and photos. Stage your bathrooms to Pinterest perfection! CLICK HERE
- Replace shower curtains to fresh, new, solid colors – no patterns.
- Replace missing, stained or damaged caulking.
- Hide garbage cans and cleaning supplies such as toilet brushes and plungers. No one wants to see these!
- Remove decorative toilet seat covers.
- Bath mats should be replaced and limited to one, clean, neutral, solid colored mat in front of each sink only.
- Replace toilet seats and/or covers if damaged, stained, or discolored.
- Consider changing cabinet hardware.
- Replace damaged, stained, rusted or outdated faucets, shower heads, etc.
Laundry Room
This may sound crazy to you, but people want to see laundry rooms that don’t look like they’ve ever had laundry done in them! Do most people live this way? No, but home buyers sure like to imagine themselves living like that. Your home, all parts, should bring about feelings of peace and comfort. Your laundry room should not remind them that they need to do laundry when they get home!
If you like to watch HGTV, you’ve seen that laundry rooms are becoming home showplaces with things like floating shelves, custom cabinets, doggie bath stations and more. Even if you just take a look at what washers and dryers used to look like compared to what they look like now you’ll see the story that’s been written. Back in the day these appliances looked utilitarian. Now they are works of art! Which laundry room below appeals to you? Ask yourself why!
What do you feel when you look at the left photo below? How about the photo on the right? They are both just laundry rooms and about the same size. My guess is you feel two completely different things looking from one to another. What will buyers feel when they visit your spaces?
Laundry Room MUSTS!
- Put soap and cleaning supplies away.
- No dirty or clean laundry should be visible (unless clean laundry is part of the staging process as below).
- Clean your washer and dryer inside and out. If your washer and dryer convey with the sale of your home, yes, people might look inside!
- Organize your laundry room to Pinterest perfection! CLICK HERE TO SEE
Bedrooms
Bedrooms, especially the primary bedroom, should be an oasis of comfort and relaxation. Think of checking into a luxury suite at a hotel!
- Consider replacing bedcovers with solid, neutral colored bedding. Flowery or patterned bedding may be distracting or unappealing to potential buyers.
- Rooms should look gender neutral.
- Minimize wall decor and remove any personal photos.
- Clear off night stands and dressers.
- Minimize the furniture in over-furnished rooms. Remember, less is more!
- Stage your bedrooms to Pinterest perfection! CLICK HERE TO SEE.
Closets
Don’t forget about closets as people will open the doors and look inside. Appearance is everything; how you’re living in your home will be how they imagine themselves living there. Overstuffed, disorganized closets bring about negative feelings and will make potential buyers think your home is lacking in proper storaage. We only want people reacting positively to every area of your home.
- Thin-out and organize your closets as much as possible.
- Consider getting matching hangers and sorting your clothing by type, length and color.
- Stage your bedroom closets to Pinterst perfection! CLICK HERE TO SEE.
Dining Room/Dining Area
- Clear dining room and kitchen tables of everything and make sure the surface is clean.
- Remove and store away excess chairs. Think a maximum of 4-6 chairs unless your table and the room are built for more people comfortably.
- The table should have at most a simple centerpiece.
- Your Realtor may recommend setting the table with tasteful placemats, silverware, charger plates and glassware.
Garage
If completely necessary, you can neatly store packed items in your garage during the time that your home is on the market. If you must, at least try to make it neat and orderly. Leave hot water heaters, HVAC components, junction boxes and attic stairs accessible as they will be part of the home inspection. If possible, you want to make every space including your garage seem spacious and functional. If it’s a three car garage, it should look like it can easily hold three cars.
- Organize your garage to maximize floor space. Consider renting a storage unit or getting rid of things if your garage is full. If you’re not going to be moving it to your next home, GET RID OF IT NOW!
- Sweep and wash the garage floor.
- Paint any areas that are dirty or stained.
Exterior
The exterior of your home is the first thing potential buyers will see when they arrive and the last thing they look at before they leave. You never get a second chance to make a first or last impression when it comes to showing your home
Your home’s exterior should look appealing and inviting. Consider the following:
- Repaint exterior and/or trim if needed. Don’t skip the front door!
- Have bushes and shrubs pruned and trimmed.
- Consider planting seasonal flowers and fill any empty planting beds.
- Remove any dead plants or flowers.
- Lawn should be mowed and edged.
- Replace mulch.
- Power wash driveways, patios and decks. Replace any loose, broken or missing pavers.
- Where I live, many of the homes have pools. Power wash the pool deck and repair any loose or broken tiles.
- Also where I live, many homes have tile roofs that build up stains. Now is the time to power wash your roof as well.
- Use outdoor furniture to showcase the use of outdoor space. Replace worn out and/or faded furniture or pillows.
If It's Broken Fix It! (or Replace)
Anything that’s broken, damaged or in poor condition should be repaired or replaced. These items will most likely come up on the home inspection so it’s just easier to fix them now instead of waiting. Appliances that convey with the sale of the home need to be in working condition. Leaking faucets, missing knobs, broken door hardware, holes in walls, non-operating light fixtures or ceiling fans, etc should be repaired or replaced.
Broken or damaged window treatments should be repaired, replaced or removed (if they aren’t necessary for privacy). For a resale home most people would expect bedrooms to have window treatments. In other areas of your home that don’t require privacy (like if you have a window facing a private yard) you could just remove broken or damaged window treatments.
If your carpeting is stained, worn, or otherwise in bad condition – it’s a good idea to replace it. You do not need to buy high-end carpeting, just carpeting that doesn’t look cheap. Home Depot and Lowes carry inexpensive brands of carpeting. When people tour your home, they make to-do lists of what improvements need to be done if they purchase your home. The main problem with this is that buyers tend to overestimate what their to-do list will cost and it will negatively impact what they are willing to spend on your home. You can get ahead of that by eliminating the to-do list before they make one.
Should You Stage Your Home?
I show and sell a lot of property. I watch what buyers are looking at, saying and not saying when I tour them through homes.
You may be surprised to hear me say that I believe buyers spend more time looking at your things and are more influenced by your decor, cleanliness, organization, and how you use your spaces than they do looking at the actual home itself.
I’ve seen buyers who are completely blinded by someone else’s furniture, decor and sense of style in good ways and bad ways. I’ve had buyers who have given me drop dead, line in the sand, must-have lists prior to showing them property or told me that they will only consider homes that feed into one particular school, only to completely forget their drop-dead, must-have’s for a beautifully decorated or new construction model home. Even when I remind them that the home lacks what they stated were their most important must-have’s, they abandon the list for the new home/nicely decorated home.
I’ve actually had buyers who unknowingly see the exact same model home in two different communities hating one and loving the other; the only differences being decor, furniture, paint colors, cleanliness, organization, etc. So, should you stage YOUR home?
Staging a home can hugely impact the time it takes to sell and how much the home sells for. This topic required a whole different page. Please read Staging Your Home For Sale.
Then, when you’re ready for professional home photography and to welcome home buyers to see your home read, Preparing For Photography and Home Showings.
I would love to meet you and discuss your real estate needs. Call/text me for more information: 239-216-0641 or email me: LaurieAlbanos@kw.com.
This article was written by Laurie Albanos, PA, GRI, REALTOR in Naples, Florida serving Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers and Marco Island.
