Quick and Cheap Tips for Selling Your Home

While I'm on vacation, some great bloggers are filling in for me with a few posts each day. The following is from Cindy at Staged 4 More:

Home selling is not only a grueling process emotionally, it can also be grueling on your bank account. Here are a few tips that can help you to prep your home for sale, and at the same time not breaking your bank:

1. For exterior curb appeal:

a. Powerwash the exterior walls & windows instead of repainting. If your paint job is in fair condition (i.e. no visible holes in your wall or obvious discoloration from the sun), powerwashing the exterior & windows can make your home look like it just got a brand new coat.

b. Add tree barks or rocks. If you don’t have money to add plants in the yard, this is a way that you can still present a nice, clean simple look instead of just plain dirt that can look cold and unappealing to buyers.

c. Weed. Unruly yard means the homeowners don’t spend much time maintaining it, and if that’s the case for their exteriors, buyers are going to assume it’s going to be so with the interiors. It’s casting doubts in buyers' heads, and also a yard full of weeds creates bad first impressions. People want to buy a manicured yard, not a jungle.

2. Interiors:

a. Painting: Every home is different and the wear and tear of your interior walls can vary. In the cases where most of the paint job is in good condition, you can generally remove the minor scuffmarks, etc. with Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser (it is truly magical, I highly recommend it). If your walls have visible traces of discoloration from the sun, look faded, or have visible holes from installing artwork, message boards, etc., I would recommend painting the interior walls. Pick a color that is neutral and not overpowering. Any off white colors will generally work. Swiss coffee from Kelly Moore is a great interior color with white trims. If you are really strapped for cash and cannot paint the walls, I would recommend cleaning the walls, clear off any cobwebs, and paint the trims. Overall, paint is really the cheapest thing you can pay for, do it yourself in one weekend, and it makes the homes look renewed.

b. Cleaning: Think mother-in-law coming to visit clean! Buyers do pick your home apart, after all, they are not buying toilet paper in grocery stores. Buying a home is the biggest purchase in someone’s life. It is very important to keep the home clean to gain a good first impression and also show that you have maintained the home while you lived there.

c. De-cluttering: You are planning to move, right? So let’s just start packing things a little bit early. Buyers may not go into your drawers, but they will definitely poke their heads into your closets. They want to know about the storage space in this home and how much of their stuff can fit in here. I generally recommend removing 40%-60% of things from the closets, such as clothing that you are not using in this season, things you no longer need, etc. Do recycle and donate these unwanted items so they are not ending in the landfills. I also have encountered homeowners stacking their bills and papers neatly on their desk when I asked them to de-clutter. NO. Not only leaving your bills out is an identity theft concern, you are also distracting buyers from your house. They will look at your clutter instead of your house. Generally buyers cannot visualize the home without clutter, because they are already so distracted by the clutter they see. So make it easier for buyers to move in mentally into the home by de-clutter and keep the home very clean.

d. De-personalize: Put away any collections that you have, whether it is troll dolls, personal photos, trophies or whatnots. They are your precious items, you certainly don’t want them to be stolen or broken during a crowded open house. You also do not want buyers to be distracted. We are human beings and we are naturally curious about other people’s lives. There is a reason why reality television is still very hot in this country. Don’t give buyers reason to not look at your home.

e. Light fixtures and hardware: If your light fixtures are outdated, I recommend updating them to more modern options. It not only gives the home a more modern, polished feel, but the newer fixtures also throw off more light which will brighten the home more during open houses. You can generally get light fixtures at a very reasonable price at Home Depot or Lowe’s. If you have a real estate agent, ask your agent to sign up for Lowe’s realtor program, where you as a homeowner can get coupons and discounts at Lowe’s. Similarly with updating hardware like knobs on kitchen cabinets, switch plates, etc. Little touches can make a huge difference in perception. 

3. Hiring real estate professionals:

a. Real estate agents: Any real estate transaction can go awry at the last minute and getting an offer is only the easy part. The battle lies in negotiating, and a good, experienced agent will help you to get the equity, protect your interests and hold your deal together. But if you are determined not to pay someone commissions, be prepared by hiring legal professionals to make sure you are covered legally. You also should be prepared to do all the legwork of marketing, paying for ads in the newspaper, getting signs for marketing, showing homes on weekends, and dealing with phone calls from unqualified buyers, low ball offers and many random people. It can be very mentally trying and physically demanding.

b. Stagers: Unfortunately there are no industry ethics and regulations to restrict individual stagers. So do ask for experiences, portfolios, business insurance documents and references. I do know of stagers using stock photos or I have seen unethical stagers stealing other stagers’ photos, so a good way is to ask about the before and after photos: “Oh, tell me about the story behind this one.” If the stager has a blog, it is also a great way to see what kind of personality you are working with.

If you are strapped for cash for full on staging, ask to see if you can do partial staging. That means staging only the key rooms of the home: living room, dining room, kitchen, master bedrooms, etc. If that is still not working for your budget, ask for consultation reports where you can spend between $150-$500 depending on individual home size, the professional stager will provide you a detailed to-do report so you can DIY staging yourself. The report should also include a follow up visit to make sure everything is ready. A good stager should be able to work with your budget, all you need to do is communicate openly and honestly what you want and need. But do remember that you cannot have champagne taste on beer budget. There still needs to be a reasonable expectation of what your stagers can do given your budget.

Comments

[George]

Great advice, thanks. Be very careful with power washing. Try it on an inconspicious area first as it can remove paint if used at high pressures.

[Mike Carpenter]

In my market we rarely hear about stagers but I think that it is a great idea that can add value to the home, meaning a higher offering price. It may make even more sense in very tight markets where there are hundreds of homes just like it one the market. A home that looks less "lived in" will always sell for more. Good idea

[cindy@staged4more]

Hi George & Mike, thanks for your kind comments!

cheers,

Cindy

ps. The correct company name is 1 word: Staged4more. ;)