What are the right things to do to make your home as marketable as possible? So many sellers just do it wrong. Here are some tips for doing it right in order of importance.
1. Street appeal is really a do or die (sorry for the drama) issue when you are trying to sell your home. Why? If a buyer doesn’t like the outside he won’t even come inside, no matter what you have done to it.
2. Clean your house REALLY well. It has to be perfect everywhere. Dirt will cost you money. Get rid of it even if you have to hire someone to do it.
3. If your house is full of your personal collections and nick knacks, box it up, donate it or put them in storage. A cluttered home looks smaller. It also won’t fit how buyers want to visualize themselves in your home, no matter how they really live.
4. Clean your closets and other storage like your garage. A good goal is that nothing should be sitting on the floor and impeding traffic. It would also be great if you have closets full of clothes to box up (you’re eventually going to have to do this anyway) out of season clothing and shoes.
5. Make sure all the small repairs have been taken care of and be sure the repairs look professionally done. In other words, prospective buyers won’t even notice that a repair has been made.
6. Remove all that out of date wallpaper. People don’t like wallpaper, especially if it’s old and dated. Many people will see your house as a construction project they don’t want to tackle. Strip that wallpaper and paint the walls a nice warm or cool neutral color depending on your area.
7. If your house lacks some obvious things potential buyers ALL ask for, take care of the problems. If your house doesn’t have something most buyers are going to want (i.e. X number of bedrooms and baths), you won’t have as many lookers. The fewer lookers you have the fewer opportunities you will have to sell. And don’t ASSUME that prospective buyers can “see the potential”. Most prospective buyers have no imagination.
Notice we didn’t mention the larger and more expensive construction projects. These projects may cost too much money to tackle for resale.
If you can’t sell your house due to market conditions, consider other possibilities like staying where you are, renting, house swaps, and owner financing (you can sell the note for all cash) that will attract buyers to a less than perfect property.
Ron Stone and his wife Paula have a national mortgage note buying business. Learn more about note buying and selling at
sell my real estate note or call them at 1-877-655-5625.
