10 Things to Do Before You List Your House
Start the Countdown
Thinking
about moving? One quick tour of your happy home
might curdle that dream before it gets out of the planning stages. If your
décor style is early desperation and you can't remember the original color of
the carpeting, it's time to roll up your sleeves and blackmail someone into
getting your home ready to sell.
If you
absolutely can't coerce an acquaintance into putting on the honorary stained
overalls or, our personal favorite, theJackson Pollock jeans, here are some vital (as in
unavoidable) ways you can help improve the look of your home. Do it sooner
rather than later, before a stranger enters the premises, screams like a little
girl, and runs full bore in the opposite direction. Trust us, we've been there.
10 - Find Your Papers
Before
you exhaust yourself trying to get the fingerprints off the walls, locate all
the important papers you'll need to entice a potential buyer. The operating manuals for your
appliances and HVAC system, notes about the paint colors you used on your walls
and any applicable warranties are important to have on hand. They'll show the
listing agent that you have things under control, even if you don't.
While
you're at it, pull out your old utility bills. You're probably still in denial
about having to pay for the water coming
out of the tap -- and going down the drain -- but work through the pain. Those
seasonal totals may help make your home look more appealing than the house one
county over from you.
9 - Get Estimates
These
aren't estimates of how long it's going to take you to explode when you find
the six-month-old grilled cheese sandwich glued to the underside of the
entertainment center. This type of estimate is about what it'll cost to replace
the stuff in your home that's on its last legs -- like the furnace, roof or water heater. You may not be prepared to overhaul worn-out items now, but
knowing how much it will cost could give you an edge in negotiations. You know,
they say they want a cool $10,000 off the asking price when you know an update
will only cost half that.
8 - Straighten the Mail Box
If your
house is the one with the tilted mailbox that looks like a diseased tooth,
you're probably cringing right now. Straighten it up! Haven't you ever heard of curb appeal? You want potential buyers to drive by and think
someone else's home (and not yours) is the eye sore. If you're planning on listing your
home, you have to lure people inside. To do that, you've got to eliminate the
telltale signs that the property isn't owned by a Stepford family.
7 - Declutter
This is
the time when you go through your belongings and discover that there isn't
anything worth keeping. It's a sad but liberating moment. If most of your stuff
is granny castoffs from the 1970s, decluttering your home will be easy. Just
get the number for the junkyard and give them a call. If there are some things
(probably borrowed) that are actually worth the cost of a moving van, pull them
out of the general chaos and get rid of the rest. Ideally, your rooms should
look open and kind of empty (marketers call that spacious). If they look more
like a crammed to bursting rent-a-space unit, you've got your work cut out for
you.
TLC
TIP
A good
rule of thumb is to get rid of (or hide) 30 percent of your stuff in
preparation for showing your home. That means stashing away extra chairs,
storage boxes, plants, magazines, CDs,
clothes, exercise equipment, small appliances and
books.
6 - De-Personalize
Remember
when you're hubby measured how tall the kids were by carving notches into the
dining room molding? Bad move. The chicken-themed kitchen was probably a
mistake too. Have you ever looked in a friend's handbag? Didn't it just scream,
"Invader! Get out! Get out!" Well,
you don't want your house to do that. You want your house to be so benign and
neutral that anyone could imagine living there -- without you.
5 - Clean
Accept
it. You're never going to be able to list you house successfully without
cleaning it first. Even the maids will probably take a pass on the heavy-duty
cleanup unless you make some inroads before you pass the baton.
If it's
been a decade since you washed the blinds, expect the process to be painful.
Actually, dirt, dust and grime may not be the worst part of tidying up. The
worst part is getting at stuff to clean it. Sure, it's easy to recognize that
you should pull the stove out and clean behind it every couple of months, or
pull out the fridge to vacuum the condenser coils, but bench pressing your own
weight may not be one of your many talents. Simple solution: Bake a pie. The smell is bound to attract an
only-slightly-unwilling laborer with upper body strength. Some ice cream for
after is a nice touch, too.
TLC
TIP
Lose the
gross factor by beating mold and mildew in your bathrooms and kitchen. The
green and gray stuff is disgusting and can really make your home look filthy.
If you have discolored caulk, replace it. Dispose of mildewed shower
curtains, too.
4 - Detail the Landscaping
You
know when your sweetie spends all weekend detailing thecar? Well, he should do that with the landscaping before you try
to sell your home. Removing dead branches from trees, pulling weeds, painting
fences and fixing driveway cracks will keep your home from giving the
impression that it's gone native. Don't risk your home looking like it belongs
in one of those futuristic horror movies where the ozone layer has fizzled out
over the 'burbs and the only people left alive are eating dog food right out of
the can.
3 - Hide the Pets
Animals
shouldn't live in houses. Well, that seems to be the mantra of the real estate
industry. If you own one of those slobbering, hairy pests -- that loves you
unconditionally, protects you vigilantly, amuses you with its absurdities and
never judges you for your failings -- hide it. That way, you won't have to
explain how you managed to get all the hair out of the air conditioning ducts (because you didn't) or managed to suck the pet dander out
of the carpeting (never happened).
DID
YOU KNOW?
Cosmetic
issues, like holes in drywall and chipped or peeling paint are easy
to fix and can make a big difference when you're trying to make a quick sale.
2 - Plan to Get Rid of the Kids for a While
Well,
actually, this is a good one to indulge in from time to time even if you aren't
selling your home. When you're thinking of placing a listing, underplaying the
presence of juvenile humans on the premises is a good idea. Kids are
destructive. If you don't know that by now, you must not have kids and you can
move to the next entry. But if you smell what we're cooking, there are some
things you can do.
Once
you prep your home by repairing the kid damage a prospective buyer can
see, keep him from wondering about all the things he can't see by stowing the
kids at grandma's house for a few days -- or until she demands that you come
and get them.
1 - Take a Deep Breath -- and Some Pictures
Yes,
with some work and a little luck, you may be able to get out of that dump and
into the home of your dreams, or at least into a house where all the toilets
work. Take some pictures before you do a major cleanup, though. Life's passages
can be so contrary. Just when your kids are getting ready to move out for good,
you'll think back on the old house, with its clutter, tiny windows and flimsy
doors, and wish you'd kept a few pictures to remind you of what those
unpredictable, implausible, frustrating and totally extraordinary early years
were all about.
TLC
TIP
Ensure
the success of your house listing by finding a real estate agent who really gets you. If you end up
with a Martha Stewart clone when you'd feel more comfortable with Sarah
Silverman, you won't enjoy the process.
Elliott, Sara.
"10 Things to Do Before You List Your House" 28 March
2011. HowStuffWorks.com.
<http://home.howstuffworks.com/real-estate/selling-home/10-things-to-do-before-you-list-your-house.htm>
13 August 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment