Getting Your Home Ready for a Spring Sale

By Weichert Realtors, Four Corners Real Estate

The spring weather is here and soon, for sale signs will be popping up all over the place.

If your house is going on the market this spring, you want to get a leg up on the competition.

Here are some tips for how to do that.

The first thing to do is to spring-clean your home. Take the time to do a deep cleaning on your home. Clean your windows. Consider a fresh coat of paint. Clean the grout in your ceramic tile. Consider whether your carpets need cleaning.

Even small things can make a difference. For example, make sure the furnace filter is clean. If it is dirty, potential buyers will wonder how you have taken care of other mechanicals in your house.

Cleaning also means sprucing up your landscaping, which includes flower beds and bushes.

Also take a look at your house from the street. What do you notice? Have your shutters faded over time? Does your front door need a fresh coat of paint? How does your mailbox look?

Consider your backyard as well. Have your decks power-washed, or painted or stained. You will also want to consider getting a plastic shed for garbage cans.

You will also want to lighten up the house and clear out the clutter. Get out the moving boxes and start packing now. If you need to, get a small storage locker. You should also consider packing away your winter clothes so the closets appear more spacious.

It’s okay to be a little bold with color, but make sure everything matches. Buy an inexpensive bedspread that will coordinate with the room color or some throw pillows for the couch that match the living room. Use small, inexpensive items to pull together color themes to create an appealing appearance.

Consider getting a home inspection. Typically, homebuyers get a home inspection before completing the purchase of a home. Why not find out ahead of time which items the home inspector will report need attention? Don’t give prospective buyers reasons to check your house off the list.

Another thing you’ll want to do is to be realistic when it comes to your selling price. It needs to be competitive. Buyers are looking for the best value. Research often tells us that if you price your home close to what it will sell for, it will sell faster and actually for more money than if you price it too high to begin with.

Pricing a home too high can eliminate some potential buyers from even viewing your house, and that could mean your house sits on the market longer. If eventually you decide to do a price reduction, buyers may wonder what is wrong with the home.

Need some help getting ready to put your home on the market? Give Weichert Realtors, Four Corners Real Estate a call at 860-429-9700.