How to Get Your House Ready for Sale
Whether you’re searching for a smaller home or building the house of your dreams, you’ll have to sell your old house before making the big move. With careful planning, advice from real estate agent and help from professional cleaners, you can send buyers rushing to make an offer.
Buyers are searching for a home they can picture themselves in. If you aren’t creating that vision, a potential sale can slip right through the cracks
1) Get Your Home Inspected
Getting a pre-listing inspection, is not very common in Sacramento region but it’s performed almost in 100% of the transactions in The Bay Area. It costs about $1200 for home, pest, roof and sewer inspections, all together. (I recommend, that you at least do the pest inspection.) Full disclosure: You don’t have to do any of them and can wait for the buyers to get it done out of their own pocket. The advantage of sellers doing it in advance is that it gives them time to get things fixed (if they choose to) and gives buyers more confidence in making an offer on their home vs another home which has no inspection reports to share with them. It gives you “that edge”. I have an inspection company I have used before which I can share with you.
2) Make Minor Repairs
Once you receive the inspection reports, you can prioritize what you like to repair. Full disclosure: You don’t have to repair a single item on those inspection reports. Don’t make selling your house such a daunting task that you end up not making a move. You’re just trying to make the house “more sell-able”. That’s all. And if you choose not to do anything, that’s fine too. Don’t make a mount out of a molehill.
Examples of items that come up in inspections and what I recommend to do with them:
- Cracks in the foundation, driveway. Too major. Disclose and let buyer decide what to do with it.
- Dry rot. Depending on how much, I recommend taking care of it. Handyman / Contractor
- Break in window seals (for double pane windows) Too major. Disclose and let go.
- Window balance springs broken (Window spiral balances) Replace. Handyman. You may even do it yourself by watching this youtube video
- Minor electrical issues and uncapped live wires. Repair (Hire a licensed electrician or handyman, depending on how much work it is) If it’s an older home and inspector suggests having the electrical panel updated, I wouldn’t replace it. Too much work. Let the buyers deal with that.
- Garage Door issues. This is a relatively simple and inexpensive fix. I recommend doing it. Call me for Sam’s phone number. (my garage door guy)
- Mold issue. This is a costly issue and I recommend you hire professionals to take care of it and this is why: Molds are a health and safety issue. Either buyers will walk away from your house all together or their lender will require it to be done prior to close of escrow which means you will have to pay for it.
- Plumbing leak: Repair. Handyman.
- A/C Unit Issues: If it needs repairs or servicing, definitely do it. If the report says that it’s working but it’s old, get it serviced and disclose the receipt to the buyers. You don’t owe the buyers a brand new $10K AC because they “would like” to have one. However, if it’s not working, (it should be working) get a new one.
3) Ramp Up Curb Appeal for a Good First Impression
A power wash, fresh exterior paint and new exterior light fixtures, go a long way. You might need to hire a gardener to give your yard a nice clean up: trimming the hedges, cutting the grass and collecting the leaves. Home Depot often has their mulch for sale $2/bag. A few bags of mulch plus some colorful flowers like petunias and zinnias are a great way to improve that curb appeal.
4) Fresh Coat of Paint & New Carpet
In my opinion, if your house is an older one, or for any reason it’s not in tip top shape, paint and carpet are a must. I have a painter and carpet guy in my crew, which I recommend to my clients. They can get the whole project done in 3-4 days. Of course, I’m recommending new carpet to replace the old and dirty carpets and not to replace a decent hardwood or laminate.
5) Organize and Declutter
Decluttering is the key to making buyers believe that all of their belongings will fit and make the rooms in your house look larger. When you look at new construction homes or when you go to Ikea, everything looks so good. Why? They stage those rooms with the minimum. Minimum is good. I always tell my sellers when they’re getting ready to put their house on the market to make three piles: One’s they’re going to keep, one’s they’re going to donate and one’s my guy, John, is taking to dump. Jerry Seinfeld has a funny joke on the topic of junk we tend to collect.
6) Hire Professional Cleaners
Unless you’re able to get your house cleaned, hire a professional cleaner. They’re not cheap and they don’t charge minimum wage but it’s a several hundred thousand $ sale and house needs to be clean. Other option: hire some teenagers and just supervise & show them how it needs to be done. I’ve seen it done this way and you couldn’t tell the difference.
7) Stage Your Home to Sell
Staging helps buyers visualize your old home as their new one. Absolultey worth it. For single story, 1200 sqft home, it costs under $1500 to stage a house. If that little investment helps you secure a 10K higher offer, the staging just paid for itself and then some. When you visit new construction homes, pay attention to the staging they invest in. It makes the house feel like a home.
8) Depersonalize Your Living Space
This goes hand-in-hand with staging your home. I always tell my sellers “One picture of your family is fine. It helps buyers visualize themselves in your home. Twenty family pictures going back 5 generations, is not fine. It takes their attention from the house (that’s what they’re there for) to your personal belongings” Plus you don’t want to share too much about your lifestyle with total strangers who are strolling through your house. Think security.
Finishing Touches to Prepare Your Home for Sale
Your house is almost ready for market. Pretend to be a potential buyer and take a walk through your home to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Look out for scuffs on baseboards, loose doorknobs, furniture blocking a hallway or anything else that might cause someone to leave your home less than satisfied. Then, make the final touches and you’re ready to sell.
