Home Staging Tips
and Home Selling Advice
Prepping Your Home for
Maximum Profit--in Minimum Time
By Jeanette Joy Fisher
Selling a home is always a
stressful time, but there are ways you can lessen the
amount of time and increase your home's selling price.
The process is called home prepping, and
you can do most of it yourself. It just takes time and
a little elbow grease.
First, make sure everything in your home
shines--showers, tubs, countertops, ovens, floors,
appliances, and anything else that buyers will be
looking at as they tour your home. Although they can
be a pain, that includes windows and skylights.
Besides being spotless, all the rooms of your home
should also be odor-free. That includes the bathroom,
the laundry room, and your teenage son's room.
Offensive odors are often the first thing potential
buyers notice, which means they're also one of the
biggest reasons why buyers turn around and look
elsewhere.
Get rid of clutter throughout the house. Remove all
small appliances from kitchen countertops and organize
the pantry. If you have walls that are full of family
photos, take the pictures down. What you see as
treasured memories are seen by buyers as clutter that
detracts from being able to see the wall underneath.
Keep all closets neat and box up any excess items you
don't use every day. You want your home to appear neat
and spacious, and nothing destroys that image faster
than clutter.
Clutter can come in many forms, including excess
furniture, so if you don't use a particular piece of
furniture on a regular basis, it's better to cart it
off to a storage place, or give it to your local
charity, than to let it sit around and make a room
look smaller. Temporary storage units can be your best
friends in prepping your home for sale, and the amount
of money you'll get from a faster sale and higher
sales price will more than offset their cost.
Try to look at your house objectively, as if seeing it
through a stranger's eyes. Are there things you'd like
them to notice, such as your gorgeous hardwood floor?
If that floor currently is covered by an area rug,
it's time to cart it off to the storage facility and
put a coat of wax on the floor to make it look as
beautiful as possible.
Prepping your home doesn't have to be expensive. In
fact, if you do it yourself, you can recoup your time
and effort toward prepping your home handsomely--in a
higher sales price and quicker sale.
Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher
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