Selling Tips
Strip the walls and go neutral. Wallpaper is out; paint is in. Don’t go crazy with colors, though. Instead, stick to neutrals, such as light khakis, which goes with just about anything.
Clutter is a home buyer’s buzz kill. Remove all your knick knacks, throw away that collection of magazines you’ve been meaning to read, clear off the counters, empty the drawers, clean out the closets.
Size matters, and we’re not just talking square feet. Make the most of your space by making it look and appear bigger than it really is. Remove clothes you’re not going to wear in the next three months (ave. time it takes to sell a house); eliminate at least 50 percent of the contents of your closets, and that means towels, blankets, hot rollers you haven’t used since 1982. Make rooms look bigger by getting rid of excess furniture and electronics (including the big screen TV that takes up 2/3 of your living room).
Get to know your Goodwill store. Take everything you don’t need any more and donate it to someone who may want it. To make this easy on you, here’s a list of the local Goodwill donation sites. Of course, there are lots of other options to donate the things you don’t need any more. Some nonprofits will come to your house to pick it up, including AmVets.
Make friends with the Pods. Storage that actually comes to your driveway. Unload everything you can’t live without over the next three months. Not only is this going to help your house more attractive to prospective buyers, but it actually will help you get a jump on the dirty work of moving. Start packing.
Live in the present. Your competition isn’t just next door, it’s that brand new house down the street and across town where you’re not going to find gold chandeliers or linoleum. If you really want to sell your house, you’ve got to give it some updates. Not sure whether your home is updated, read below.
Your house is outdated if:
- Your bathroom vanity is a turquoise color (and not from the vintage Kohler line).
- Carter was president when you commissioned a seamstress to make the gold-colored drapes and coordinating sheers.
- There are mirrors on your closet doors.
- You have shag carpeting.
- A floral print of wallpaper covers your dining room walls.
- Vertical blinds are hanging in a tangled mess over your sliding glass doors.
- You have paneling in the den (and haven’t gotten around to painting it)
- Dinner is served under swag lights.
- You have linoleum floors in the kitchen.
- Gas was 83 cents a gallon when you bought the brown plaid sofa.
Being good at paint-by-number doesn’t qualify you a house painter. If you must DIY, buy blue tape and tape off the woodwork, ceilings and windows. Even though the can says one-coat coverage, it’s not. Use two coats, especially at the top of the walls around the ceiling. And, remove the gutters before painting the house.
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