As the real estate market is upticking, many potential home sellers are understandably calculating the appropriate time to list their home. As the Byrds’ song suggests, with every season something does “turn, turn, turn.” Call it buyer perception, or just an injection of much needed Vitamin D from its original source, and all of a sudden buyer activity is spiking. So, if you are planning to sell your home this season, to catch the wave of this Spring fever, what should you accomplish with the immediate staging of your home? Here are a few, unorthodox pointers to speed you along:
- Lighten your home. Whether it be a fresh coat of neutral paint, or a brightening of trims or window treatments, lightening your home to coincide with a brighter season synchronizes the first impression of your home. From a buyer’s perspective, if you are visiting a home from a bright sunny day with blue and orange skies, there is nothing more despairing than walking into darker rooms devoid of brightness.
- Clean your storage areas. Whether you use your garage or lower level to store boxes, Christmas decorations, or hoarded childhood items, tidy up these forsaken areas. Most buying clients will read into the way you store your household items. If they are neatly organized, clean, and stored appropriately in areas instead of piled up onto each other (especially in the garage), this will reflect upon you, the inhabitant who is trying to sell your home for a justifiable price point. Storage areas reflect as much upon the way a house is maintained as the living areas do.
- Sharpen your Landscaping impression. The outdoors of your home is an extension of the indoor maintenance. If you have overgrown trees, shrubs, or unkempt mulch in your gardens, the first impression of your home may be compromised. In this same light, ensure all outdoor lights are in proper working order, and eliminate water stains, bird poop on windows, and branches, or begotten leaves dangling from eavestroughs. Hire a power washing company to address windows, driveway and walkways.
- Revisit mechanical inspections and obtain paperwork to prove the furnace, boiler, air conditioner, appliances and plumbing fixtures are in prime working condition. If you have a dripping faucet, or a weak flushing toilet, or an incessant sound vibrating from your ducts, these details can contribute to the mood and sound impression of the home.
- Finally, eliminate items that date the home, whether they be dated picture frames, gifted vases, or old bed comforters. Once again, brighten the home and spaces by the process of elimination.
