You always hear that you can’t please everyone, but when you’re trying to sell your house, that’s exactly what you hope to do. You want your property to appeal to as many people as possible, but with so many different types of buyers, how do you make that happen? Who exactly are you supposed to impress?
Actually, you don’t have to guess. The sellers who are successful right now make their house feel clean and easy to say yes to, regardless of how they’re paying for it.
But ‘clean’ and ‘easy’ sound vague, right? So let’s get more specific then.
Declutter and Make Your Space Simpler
The tips you’re about to read aren’t exclusive to a specific climate or a certain type of property. They’ll work whether you’re trying to find a cash home buyer in Dallas (a business like A-List Properties or someone similar) and get that instant money without having to wait or deal with the real estate market and/or agents. Or perhaps you’re trying to solo-sell a condo in Denver.
It doesn’t really matter; these tips will work either way.
The first thing you need to do is to get rid of clutter. That’s number one.
That doesn’t mean you can throw everything in a drawer, though. When buyers walk into your home, they don’t want to see your house. They want to see if this could be their house. And they can’t do that if you have family pictures plastered on all the walls and your kid’s art projects all over the fridge. You want them to see the least amount of you possible, so they can imagine themselves there.
Where do you start, you ask? With the stuff buyers pay attention to.
They’ll open your kitchen cabinets and peek into the closets. Your linen closet shouldn’t look like it’s bursting because thebuyers will take that to mean that there’s not enough room there. The same goes for the living room – the fewer knick-knacks on the shelves, the better.
Nobody cares about your seashell collection; buyers want to see if they can fit their life here.
Simple Updates
No full renovation needed here, we’ll focus only on the simple stuff.
Let’s start with color.
That deep navy bathroom you like so much might look beautiful to you, but that color is a statement for sure, and not everyone shares your taste. When they walk through your house, buyers picture their own furniture and art, which might clash with anything that’s loud. A coat of light, neutral paint is the best decision you can make.
Neutrals are very calming, and they’re also sort of like a blank canvas.
Now look at the small stuff, like the light switch cover that’s almost yellow from being so old, and the cabinet pulls that already looked dated way back in 2006.
It’s not expensive or complicated to swap those out, and yet it completely changes the energy of the space. A new light fixture in the hallway, a modern faucet in the kitchen, this is how you switch things up without doing too much.
This is how you make your house look maintained, and all buyers love that.
Then there’s the floor.
You might not look down that often, but you can bet that every single buyer will. They’ll notice the worn patch in the carpet and the vinyl in the bathroom curling at the seam. Ripping everything out and installing hardwood is a bit much (not that you can’t go for it if you want to), but if something looks really old and worn out, replace it.
Patch what you can, and you’ll be surprised at how much difference it makes.
Curb Appeal and Staging
The first impression is everything, and yours starts on the street.
Before the buyer even steps out of their car, they’re already judging your property.
Shaggy lawn? Wild bushes? A pile of leaves on the front walk? Not good. They’ll see you don’t take care of the exterior, so why would they think inside is any different? Bam – you left a bad first impression, and they haven’t even seen you.
You don’t have to hire a landscape designer, just mow the lawn and trim the hedges.
Sweep the porch, and if the front door looks old and worn, paint it. This will take you an afternoon and cost next to nothing, but it will change how the entire house feels.
Staging the inside works the same way – help people see what’s already there. Pull furniture away from the walls and open the curtains to show the buyers how much light there is. It’s not exactly decorating; more like editing.
A coffee table with nothing on, a counter with just the fruit bowl. It’s clean, and buyers can easily see what their stuff could look like here.
Conclusion
To be completely frank, it’s annoying to prepare your home for a sale.
There. Someone had to say it. You’ll never get those weekends back and the money you’ll spend on it, however little that may be, you’d rather spend somewhere else.
But then, once you’re done with work, you’ll walk through your freshly decluttered living room and notice how the light hits the wall you finally painted.
And you’ll think to yourself, ‘Huh. This actually looks good.’
And your buyers will agree.
