Preparing Your Home for the Sale
So, you've done your homework to determined the initial asking price for your home, and now you're ready to bring in the buyers. Not so fast. Have you prepared the home for buyers? Is it properly staged to look its best? What about those repairs you've been putting off for months?
It has always been important to prepare a home before showing it to buyers, but in the post-recession of economy of 2009 - 2010, it's even more important. Why? Because our economic collapse has created buyer's markets in most cities across the United States. There are fewer buyers in the market, and the foreclosure crisis has created a surplus of homes for sale. So if you want to sell your home in such a market, you must go above and beyond the competition to attract a buyer. Pricing the home effectively is one way to get the attention of buyers, but you also need to prepare the home for the market.
How to Prepare Your Home
Most home preparations before selling will fall into one of two categories. The categories overlap in some areas, but each action will either be related to...
- Basic Repairs - Basically, this means fixing things that are broken. This needs to be done in any kind of market, unless you are specifically marketing the home as a fixer-upper. Items in this category include fixing broken steps, replacing broken doorknobs, plastering holes and other minor repairs. You know, all of those things you've been putting off.
- Home Staging - This is where you go beyond basic repairs to address the aesthetic qualities of the home. Staging is a must, especially in a buyer's market. It includes such tasks as neutralizing bold color schemes, rearranging furniture to improve flow, sprucing up the yard for curb appeal, etc.
A good website to visit for home staging advice is StagingBug.com. On that site, you'll find a room-by-room list of tips to help you stage your home effectively. It's worth checking out. They also offer a variety of home selling tips and tools. We also have a collection of staging tips on our website.
A good rule of thumb is to think about the home inspector when creating your list of repairs, while thinking about the buyers as you create your staging list. In fact, if you still have the home inspection checklist from when you originally bought the home, you can use that as a checklist for your repairs (most inspectors look at the same things).
Here's what it all boils down to. It's tough to sell a home in this market, but it's certainly possible. If you've seen a home for sale in your neighborhood for a very long time, there are several reasons for it. Either the home is priced too high, staged poorly, or a combination of these things. So before you even worry about marketing the home and bringing in potential buyers, you need to address these things.
Next topic: Marketing the property
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