What to do to prepare your listing…

Pressure wash the house.  Make your home sparkle.  You can rent a pressure washer from Lowe’s or Home Depot or pay a professional to clean your house.

Plant annuals near the front door.  Most buyers know within 90 seconds whether they are interested in a house.  Make the walk from the driveway to the front door as perfect as possible.  No weeds.  Add fresh mulch.

Repaint front door and trim if needed.  This is your only chance to make a good first impression.

Make two spare keys for your Realtor.  One will go in the lockbox on your front door.  The other will be kept in the office until closing.

Have your carpets professionally cleaned.  This is not the time to save a hundred bucks.  If you have pets pay extra for the deodorization. 

Pull together any documents from when you bought your house.  An appraisal, a survey, floor plans, Homeowner Covenants and Restrictions are all helpful.  Also, photos of your house form different times of the year (decorated with Christmas lights, when the leaves turn red, when the azaleas are in bloom) help potential buyers get a feel for what it’s going to be like to live there. 

Repaint interior rooms that need it especially hallways and other areas that get really heavy usage.  Your teenage daughter’s hot pink room may not fly with your new buyer.  Consider returning to neutrals.  At the very least remove Barney border from baby’s room.

Clean your house the best it has ever been cleaned.  Call in for reinforcements and hire some help.  Don’t forget to clean all dust and dirt from around ceiling at the A/C vents, clean all ceiling fans, wipe the refrigerator top, dust on top of all door fames and thoroughly wipe down all baseboards.  Clean baseboards especially well.  Paint them if needed.  Super clean baseboards make your whole house seem cleaner and better maintained. 

Clean out all closets and pack up boxes.  Make your closets “spacious” by leaving empty spaces in the closets.  This is crucial to getting top dollar.

Remove all personal photographs.  Get another head start on packing by packing up all of the family photos. You want your buyer to look at the house, not your photographs.  Keep in mind you want your house to look like a model home. 

De-Clutter! Keep maximum of 2 items on end tables.  Only 2 items per kitchen counter.  Keep it sparse.  Sparse sells!  Besides, you won’t have to dust them while they’re packed.  If you need to rent a storage unit to de-clutter your house DO IT!  Try PODS (888) 776-7637.  They will drop off a POD to store in until you get your new home!