Where to
Start: Begin to Prepare your Home for Showing
“You never get a second chance
at a first impression.” We’ve all heard this expression before.
And now, while you are preparing your house to sell, it should not be
far from your mind.
While logical factors such
as price and location narrow the pool of houses a potential buyer will
look at, the ultimate decision to buy a particular house is fuelled
by a mixture of logic and emotion. And emotion often wins out.
The same might be said for the process of selling a home. For
this reason, Real Estate Agents, when they talk to you about buying
real estate, will refer to your purchase as a “home.” When
discussing the sale of your current home, however, an agent will refer
to it as the “house.” This is a conscious choice. The
agent knows that buying a house is often an emotional decision, while,
when selling a house, emotion should be separated from the process.
Buyers are searching for a
“home”—a place in which they will feel comfortable, secure, and
happy, a place in which they can imagine settling down and raising their
family. As a seller, your goal is to cultivate these feelings
through the property you’re selling. Look at your house as a
marketable commodity. A buyer’s emotional response is triggered
early, so you want to ensure you have done everything you can to encourage
a positive response to your house from the outset. Within minutes—even
seconds—of pulling into your driveway, buyers have formed an impression
that they will carry with them through the rest of the showing, and
beyond. Keep in mind, this impression will not only influence
whether or not they make an offer, but also what they consider to be
the value of the property.
If you’ve ever visited model
homes, you’re familiar with effective presentation styles. Have
you ever walked into one of these homes and immediately begun taking
stock, planning how to get your home to look that good? Well,
now is the time to take some of these steps. Of course, there
are ways to achieve the same effect in your own home without incurring
model home costs.
When homes create this immediate
type of emotional appeal, they tend to sell quickly—and for more money.
Use the following step-by-step guide to get your house into selling
shape before you put the property on the market, and you’ll be well
on your way to a successful sale!
- Depersonalize.
This should be one of your
first steps when you begin preparing your house to sell. Over
the years, a home inevitably becomes tattooed with the owners’ lives,
covered with touches that have made it that special place for you.
At this point, however, you want buyers to recognize it as a property
they could make into their unique place. When a homebuyer
walks into a room and sees these personalizing touches—such as photos
on the walls or trophy collections—their ability to picture their
own lives in this room is jarred, impairing a positive emotional response.
So, your first step will be to remove all the family photos, the trophies,
collectible items, and souvenirs. Pack them all together, so you’ll
have everything you need at your disposal when it comes time to personalize
your new home. For the time being, rent a storage space and keep these
items there. Do not simply transfer these items to another
place in your house. Do not hoard them away in a closet,
basement, attic, or garage, as the next step in preparing your home
is to minimize clutter—and these areas of your house will all be targeted.
- Remove all clutter.
The next step on the list
is to purge your house of the excess items that have accumulated over
the years. This is the hardest part for many people, as they have
an emotional investment in many of these things. When you have
lived in a house for several years, a build-up of personal effects occurs
that is often so gradual that you don’t notice the space is becoming
cluttered. If you need to, bring in an objective friend to help
point out areas that could stand to be cleared. Try to stand back
yourself and see your house as a buyer might. Survey shelves,
countertops, drawers, closets, the basement—all places where clutter
often accumulates—to determine what needs to go. Use a system
to help you decide: get rid of all items, for example, you haven’t
used in the past five years, and pack up everything that you haven’t
used in the past year. Although getting rid of some things might
be hard, try to do it without conscience or remorse. You’ll
be forced to go through this process anyway when you move, and with
each box you eliminate, your storage space—and the room in general—begins
to look larger. We’ve broken down the process into specific
areas of your house to help you concentrate your efforts:
The kitchen is an ideal
place to begin, as it’s easy to spot and eliminate the type of clutter
that tends to accumulate here. Homebuyers will open your drawers
and cabinets as they’ll want to check if there will be enough room
for their own belongings. If the drawers appear cluttered and
crowded, this will give them the impression there is not enough space.
- First of all, remove
everything from the counters, even the toaster (the toaster can be stored
in a cabinet, and brought out when needed).
- Clean out all the
cabinets and drawers. Put aside all of the dishes, pots and pans
that you rarely use, then box them and put them in the storage unit
you have rented (again, not in the basement or a closet).
- If you, like many
people, have a “junk drawer,” clear this out.
- Get rid of the food
items in the pantry that you don’t use. Begin to use up existing
food—let what you have on your shelves dictate your menus from now
on.
- Remove all extra
cleaning supplies from the shelves beneath the sink. Make sure
this area is as empty as possible. You should thoroughly clean
this spot as well, and check for any water stains that might indicate
leaking pipes. Buyers will look in most cabinets, and will notice
any telltale signs of damage.
- Go through all clothes
and shoes. If you don’t wear something anymore, get rid of it.
We all have those clothes, too, that we wear only once in awhile, but
can’t bear to give away. Box these items and keep them in the
storage unit for a few months.
- Go through all other
personal items in the closet. Be ruthless. Weed out everything
you don’t absolutely need.
- Remove any unsightly
boxes from the back of the closet. Put them in storage if need
be. Get everything off the floor. Closets should look as
though they have enough room to hold additional items.
- You may want to
tour a few model homes in order to gauge the type of
- After having armed
yourself with some ideas, stand back and look at each
of your rooms.
What will you need to remove? Remember, most homes contain too
much furniture for showings. These are items that you’ve grown
comfortable with and that have become incorporated into your everyday
routine. However, each room should offer a sense of spaciousness,
so some furniture will likely need to be placed in storage.
- Basements, garages,
attics, and sheds: these are the “junkyard” areas of
any given home.
It is possible to arrange simple clutter into a certain order, but junk
is sent packing to these often-hidden rooms. First, determine
which of these boxes and items you actually need. Can some of
it be sent to the dump once and for all?
- Hold a Garage Sale.
You’ve heard the saying, “One person’s trash is
- Transfer some items
to the rental storage unit. You’ll want to clear the
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