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Equal Housing Opportunity
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So You’re Ready to Sell Your House – What Should You Do to Prep and Stage? You’ve interviewed Realtors with expertise in your neighborhood. You’ve studied the marketing packages and picked the best price. Your Realtor is doing the pre-marketing and says that you need to help prepare your home to make that all important first impression on the Buyers and Agents she’s marketing to – they say first impressions are most important – couldn’t be truer when it comes to real estate. So here’s a list of things to do for you. You can even do these before you meet with your Realtor so they can put their marketing plan into immediate action and not have to wait the week or ten days for the house to be prepped. It’s really not rocket science – just common sense – what appeals to you when you walk in a house? Here’s some key tasks to get those buyers pulling out their checkbooks: 1. De-personalize your house in your mind and remove your emotional attachment. The property you are selling is no longer your home but a product you need to sell. Just because you spent hours getting that hot pink paint on that bathroom wall and you think it looks great, the average buyer might not. You need to be unemotional about painting over or removing items to appeal to a broader audience. Think about your house wrapped in a gift box and you handing it to the buyer and think about that new home you are going to; wouldn’t hot pink be perfect in the new hall bath? 2. Depersonalize the house itself. Remove personal pictures and items. This is the first step in de-cluttering. Leaving clean, uncluttered rooms so that the buyer can see in their minds personal items in the room and think I’d feel comfortable living here. 3. Clean out closets and kitchen cabinets. Neaten up what remains after you throw away that six year old bottle of paprika that’s a solid brown clump. Stack things neatly, label things and line them up. Hang clothes in size and color order, turn the hangars the same way. Align your shoes. Buyers do peek in closets and cabinets – if they are neat, clean and orderly; the buyer will feel the rest of the house must have been cared for in the same manner. 3. De-clutter, and then De-clutter some more. You’ll be moving, so this is a great time to go through all the things that we accumulate over time. Make a pile for throw away, a pile for give away, and a pile to put in boxes for the move. Pack up all the books, knick knacks, collections, and stacks of paper that you’ve been meaning to go through. Clean off all bath and kitchen counters. Put it away in the cabinet (or throw out that cream you’ve had for three years but never used). Donate unused excess toiletries to the local women’s shelter. Donate excess small appliances and do-dads that you don’t use to Goodwill. If it doesn’t fit under the counter or in the drawer – throw it out, donate it, or pack in a box for storage until the move. 4. Leave just enough furniture in each room to define the room’s purpose and give the idea of what sized furniture will fit – especially in Hawaii. Those large hunks of furniture won’t work here – our rooms and houses are smaller and we do a lot of indoor/outdoor living. Removing and storing excess furniture makes your rooms look larger. Maybe you don’t need to keep the extra futon bed in the family room – donate it. Remove any thing that blocks the traffic flow in or around your house. 5. Remove and replace any item you want to keep before you list your home. “Exceptions” in a listing just highlight the things the buyer can’t have, so if that chandelier was a gift from your Uncle in Florence, take it down pack it up and store it for the move to your new home. It you are not including the drapes, remove them now and replace them with something simple. Attached custom shutters usually stay as they are built to fit the windows. 6. Now you’ve got all these boxes of things to save and boxes of things to give away and you’ve put the rest in the trash or left out for bulky pickup. Go rent a storage unit for the things you will be taking to your new home. Have a garage sale (Hawaii LOVES garage sales) and what’s left call Cerebral Palsy or Boys and Girls Clubs and they’ll pick it up. 7. Do your repairs and maintenance list. You can actually pay for a home inspector to pre-inspect your home and highlight for you items that need attention. Fix leaky faucets, repair the dishwasher that quit last week, patch holes in walls, paint over that hot pink bathroom (make the paint neutral – not dead white), touch up the paint on trims, replace all burned out light bulbs, add lighting fixtures to any area that seems dark. Bright, airy and open sells in Hawaii. 8. Bright and airy means clean! Clean those corners and baseboards. Re-caulk bathtubs and showers, wash windows inside and outside, scrub the floors, clean the ceiling fans, vacuum daily, polish the furniture, clean inside and outside of refrigerators, touch up rust spots on appliances with appliance paint. Clean and bleach any musty smells or damp areas – bleach that dingy grout. It’s Hawaii – we have sun (warmth) and rain (greenness) all year – if you have an area that doesn’t get air, you will get mildew so check those closet interiors and under the fridge. Rent a pressure sprayer and clean under the eaves, sidewalks, garage floors, and other exterior areas. 9. Stage for the Buyer appointments. Unless you live in a “House Beautiful” world your house will need some “staging” to add color and appeal. Consider buying new color coordinated bedspreads, towels, and a roll of matching wired ribbon. Create a storage basket of items to put out for “staging” You can throw the spreads over your current bedding, add a few throw pillows and you have a “staged” bedroom. Consider bright new area rugs or runners. Clean off all the dresser tops and put a vase with some silk flowers on the side. Change the shower curtain to a color coordinated one with new towels. Take the towels and make a bath-hand-washcloth stack and add the ribbon to cinch them together – when a buyer is coming take your damp towels to the laundry and put up 2 sets of the ribbon towels. Push all the morning stuff from the countertop into the storage basket, add a atomizer in the corner of the sink top, ribbon wrapped soap in a ceramic dish, and a new bathmat on the floor and you have a “staged” bath. Keep a pretty basket for the kid’s toys (limit the number), cat or dog toys, or other daily items that can be used to collect all of the items to put away in the closet. From the Staging basket take a colorful throw and drape it over the couch. Add a silk or fresh flower arrangement on the dining table. Set the table with color coordinated placemats, napkins and dishes. Add wine glasses and napkin holders. Now your house is “Staged”. By planning ahead and storing your staging items in baskets that are then used to hide the daily clutter, you should be able to clear and setup the staging items in under 45 minutes; including a quick vacuum. All of these new things can then go with you to your new home. 10. Don’t forget the outside. Hawaii ranges from dry, flat plains, to oceanfront, to mountainous rain forests. Drive up to you property with a critical eye. Is the yard overgrown, are the plants droopy or need trimming, is there clutter in the garage? A buyer can drive right by your house and never get out of the car because of a lack of curb appeal. All that work in the 9 steps above are wasted. So mow the lawn, trim the bushes, plant some flowers in groups along the front walk, clean out the garage (and that outside refrigerator), and clear the sidewalks. No toys or bikes scattered around the yard, please. The big box stores have some great pots and plants that won’t break the bank but will make your home’s exterior appealing. If your outdoor furniture is old and faded, consider new or repurposed for your outdoor room or lanai. Stage the outdoors too! If your property is empty because you have already moved, consider paying for a professional staging service. Your Realtor will do some staging on her own but depending on the property, you may need more than pillows and new linens. Now let’s get that property listed, marketed with a 24/7 virtual open house, targeted e-flyers for your type of buyer, and featured on the front page of websites and search engines….Let’s get it SOLD! Kate Braden, R
Principal Broker |
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