Presenting your home in its best light without draining your resources

Selling a home is much like any form of presentation – or even a debate. In putting your house together for sale, you make a selling proposition that presents a clear case for your house as attractive to neighbors, buyers and realtors. And you have ‘competitors’ making their case at the same time (for other homes in the market), to your audience. In many regards, the things we can do in a presentation of our home are intuitive. It’s always nice to have a list, though. So, here we offer a set of reminders of those ideas that are the ‘low-hanging fruit,’ the simple and cost-effective ideas that can make a big impact on your home presentation.

Over years of helping homeowners finance home purchases and improvements, we’ve come to know a few truths relative to improving the odds in your favor when the time comes to make a sale. Here are ten of our best ideas. This list is not exhaustive, and it shouldn’t be taken as a mandate. If some of them don’t work for you, that’s ok. Our hope is that one or two will give you a valuable boost in your confidence and ability to sell your home. The list, in no particular order:

1. Approach and entry. If you’re a numbers person, and as bankers we certainly are, you want to put the odds in your favor by making the exterior welcoming to the greatest number of home-seekers. Odds are, the more foot traffic you can get inside your home versus comparable homes nearby, the better the odds you’ll get that offer.  Make sure, as the prospective buyer comes in for landing, that it looks good ‘at 10,000 feet.’ With a poor approach, you may only get that cursory look from the car windshield. A few inexpensive tips for the outdoors: fresh mulch and trimmed edges, a clean front entry with a bright and shiny door, and maybe even a new welcome mat.
    
2. Remove the pet factor. You love your pets. Your buyer may love pets. But, you don’t know if they love pets – or if they want to love your pets. Allergies, aversions or other factors all come into play. So to be safe, simply remove all evidence of pets. In particular, put bowls, litter and any smells out of reach.
    
3. Go 50% on Décor. Develop a seller’s mindset as you consider the stuff of everyday life – your collections, photo galleries, countertop items, etc. It’s time to be ruthless in your home ‘editing.’ 
    
4. Depersonalizing. This tip and the ones that follow, are related to the previous tip. Your buyer will want to picture their own family photos on the wall or ceramic jar collection in kitchen. Depersonalizing as a staging technique gives your home the ready-to-be-purchased and ready-to-be-lived-in vibe.
    
5. Hoteliering. OK. We made that word up, but if you want to make everyone feel as if the home is truly waiting on them, take steps to make it feel like a hotel. In other words, remove the unnecessary, but take care to have just what is needed and make those elements the best they can be. For example, remove your old towels and replace them with a pair of fluffy white towels. Display fewer items on desks, counters and walls in the interest of showing utility (what each room is obviously for) without any superfluous elements.
    
6. Kitchens are Hot. Oh, the heat! Get out of the kitchen? No, get in there! While a full kitchen remodel might be going overboard, there are a few inexpensive things that can go a long way toward prepping this hot spot for sale. A fresh coat of paint is one obvious choice. And, depending on your home’s age, a new countertop can be an inexpensive upgrade that increases the kitchen’s perceived value without straining your budget.
    
7. Get it Clean and Air it Out. It’s time to go for it. Take time to pay special attention to those places you may have grown comfortable with - a scuff mark here, a nick there. Look for the things you pass by every day. Are there any burnt-out bulbs? Are the walls free of small holes from wall-hangings? Outlet covers – are they uniform and clean? And window sills and baseboards – make sure they are clean and tidy. Oh, and smells – make sure you’ve taken an honest sniff of the air and made an effort to remove any ‘resident odors.’ If the basic surfaces and ‘infrastructure’ of the living space is neat, clean and cared-for, you’re putting yourself in good position.
    
8. Rugs and Carpet. And lighting. What’s beneath your feet is important. Deep clean and/or pay attention to any trouble spots. Cleaning carpets or adding an area rug can affordably freshen the steps of the buyers entering your home. While we’re looking down, don’t forget to look up! At the lighting, specifically. Warm lighting, with as much natural light as possible, will make rooms feel slightly larger and more inviting.
    
9. Closets: A full closet will not ‘read’ the right way. A prospective buyer will feel ‘space’ if there has been an effort to create air in the closet. You know that feeling you get when you’ve thrown out the things you haven’t worn in 12 months? Maybe not. Whether you have or haven’t, it’s easy to understand the logic behind removing that claustrophobic feeling of an overstuffed closet that is not your own.
    
10. The Fridge. That’s right. It might seem like a place you can hide kitchen debris at the last minute. Or it might feel like a ‘private space.’ Keep in mind, though, the buyer may be interested in purchasing your appliances with the home, or even be interested in the particular model you have. It shouldn’t be considered off-limits, so if you can, apply the 50% rule to your spotless refrigerator interior – just in case! At the very least, it will make it easier to find that little jar of mustard that always disappears!

Good luck in your home-selling efforts! If we can be of any further help, don’t hesitate to contact one of our mortgage bankers for advice. ​