5 Basic Steps
to Help Prepare
Your Home For Sale

Your home is likely your largest investment so when you’ve found your new Sunrise Support Living villa and it’s time to sell, you’ll want your home to really impress buyers to earn top dollar.

A real estate agent will be able to suggest some ways to prepare your home for sale. We can point you in the right direction of some local agents who will help the process go smoothly. You can also take some basic steps yourself without any professional help.

Here are five steps to take when you’re ready to sell your house.

Declutter

Remove knickknacks, excess furniture and other belongings that clutter the rooms in your house to make the spaces seem larger and more open.
Buyers will also have fewer distractions as they walk through the home.

But don’t just shove your clutter into cupboards as potential buyers will open cupboard doors as they tour your house. If you have a lot of clutter and find it hard to get organised, consider renting storage space on a short-term basis.

Repair Any Damaged Items

If you have small issues or general maintenance such as holes in walls or lights that don’t work, now’s the time to fix them.
To get an idea of what you need to repair, walk through your home and imagine yourself as a buyer, or walk through with a friend you can trust.
Consider any defects that you’ve learned to live with but that would catch your attention when seeing them for the first time.

You’ll also want to make sure you repair major issues that a buyer may not immediately see before you put your home on the market.For example, problems with the heating or cooling system.
A potential buyer will hire a building inspector before closing. If the inspector finds problems, the sale could be put on hold until they’re resolved and will delay the move into your new home.

Deep Clean

Every surface a potential buyer sees is a surface that needs to be clean. Messy and cluttered spaces could send the message that you don’t take care of your home, and it could make potential buyers wonder what else might be wrong with the property.
A deep cleaning means drycleaning carpets, washing screens / windows and cleaning tile grout throughout the house.
Pay extra special attention to bathrooms; make sure fixtures are sparkling and wipe out any dirt rings or mold patches.
Keep up the cleaning routine the entire time your home is on the market. If you’re pressed for time or mobility is an issue, consider asking family or friends to help or perhaps hire a commercial cleaning company.

Plan pleasing scents

You want to make a good first impression with a potential buyer so you probably don’t want them to catch any lingering odors from last night’s dinner.

For a pleasant aroma, add fragrances around the kitchen and throughout your home. It can be as simple as an electric burner with a few drops of essential oil. Or try a few well-placed sticks of cinnamon or citrus fruit, such as oranges, can also produce a refreshing scent.

Be careful not to overdo it though as buyers may think you are trying to mask a smell such as mould or damp.

Stage Your Home

Your decor expresses your personality but home shoppers will have different tastes.
Consider tweaking the decor to appeal to a larger number of buyers. This practice is known as “staging,” or “styling” and it could mean rearranging furniture or even renting new pieces of furniture until the home is sold. Your real estate agent will be able to help with this including design options and will also likely have access to a styling agent as part of the sale process with them.
By considering these basic steps before listing your home on the market, it will ensure the best possible sale price for your home.