Top Tips to Sell Your Home in a Breeze

When you list your home, it is important to remember that you’re not just selling a piece of property: you’re selling an image and a lifestyle, too.

If you need to sell your home quickly — perhaps because you are relocating for a new job or you want to release equity — it is even more important to make your home appealing to potential buyers.

The extra work of staging and minor remodeling will help you earn top dollar for your home, making it well worth the effort.

Read on to learn how to stage your home for a quick sale, free from complications and drama.

1. Curb Appeal

You’ve already made the first impression on potential buyers before they even walk through your front door. Keeping your home’s outside tidy increases its curb appeal and can make a significant difference when it comes time to sell.

A house that has recently been painted creates a terrific first impression. Touch up shutters or window frames if you don’t have time or money to repaint the whole house.

The front door is a must-do! It can make a huge difference to the overall look and feel of your house. Your front entrance serves as the focal point of your home’s façade, so don’t be scared to use a bold or vibrant color. The color will attract attention and inspire buyers to enter and see more.

In the same way, choose colorful native plants that bloom at different times of the year so that your garden looks wonderful in the spring and summer. Take care to remove any invasive weeds and overgrown shrubs and make sure your lawn is well kept. Cut back any vegetation that is blocking light from entering the house.

Landscaping should complement your home rather than hide it. Make sure your driveway and walkways are clean and in good repair. If you have steps or a porch, make sure they are in good working order. Add some hanging baskets and small decorations to create a homely feel.

2. Staging Tips

Staging is used to highlight a home’s best features, impress potential buyers, and sell the home as quickly as possible for the highest feasible price. Here are a few affordable staging tips to help sell your home:

1. a) Light, neutral wall colors are a good resale palette because purchasers can readily envision their items in the space; they won’t have to modify the entire house to suit their style. Light colors also provide freshness and elegance.
2. b) A spotless home demonstrates to potential buyers that you’ve taken good care of it. Cleaning the entire house — from the floors to the ceilings and everything in between — is ideal.
3. c) Make the most of the natural light in your home by removing heavy drapes and moving anything that blocks the windows.
4. d) Remove all evidence of pets before potential purchasers come to view the property. We’re not suggesting you send your beloved dog to the local pound, but it’s sensible to ask a neighbor or friend to babysit him for a couple of hours, especially if he’s the slobbery type or deeply suspicious of visitors.

3. Decluttering

Declutter to remove anything more than the home needs. Potential purchasers need enough space to imagine how a home will look with their belongings, rather than all yours. It’s always best to depersonalize a property prior to selling it, so use this as a golden opportunity to get rid of anything you no longer need or want.

Go through your closets and throw out clothes that don’t fit. Discard, give away or sell. A half-empty closet will look far more spacious than one that’s rammed to the ceiling with shoe boxes and bags of old clothes.

Be ruthless about ornaments, books and bric-a-brac. Less is more when trying to sell a home. It’s OK to have a few personal photos lying around, but it’s not OK to have so much stuff on every available surface that a room looks small and cramped.

Decluttering is especially important in bedrooms. Bedrooms need to look as spacious as possible, as small, cramped bedrooms can be a turn-off for buyers. Remove anything that doesn’t belong in the room, like piles of laundry or boxes. All you need in a bedroom is a bed and some appropriate furniture. The aim is to make it look attractive, not cluttered.

If you have been using a bedroom as a home office, consider converting it back to a bedroom so buyers can picture it as one.

4. Energy Efficiency

The majority of purchasers want eco-friendly features that will save money on their bills in the long run. Consider upgrading your house in ways that make it more sustainable and appealing.

Switch all bulbs to energy-efficient LED varieties. Consider appliances with the Energy Star designation, which can help save you and the buyer money on your power and gas bills. Low-flush toilets save significant amounts of water annually.

Insulated siding and double-glazed windows with proper seals can increase your home’s sustainability. Solar panels are another great investment that may be a sizeable expense at the outset but will add major appeal to your home long-term. Consider replacing your old thermostat with a smart thermostat that will save you money on your utility bills every month.

5. Home Maintenance

Small home maintenance issues can easily put off a potential buyer. To you, it’s only a small area of scuffed paintwork or a sticky window, but to a buyer, it signals a lack of care and the likelihood that other, more serious issues have been overlooked and ignored.

Before you stick a For Sale sign in the front yard, fix any outstanding problems that are clearly visible to buyers and any that may come up before the sale process is completed.

These are just a few ways that you can increase the appeal of your home when looking to sell. In the end, the time and effort you put in will be well worth it.