Realtor’s® Tips To Increase The Show ability Of Your Home
Thinking about selling your home? You may have decided, after years of home ownership that you want to start fresh as you enjoy your retirement. Before your home hits the market, it is important to do some decluttering to make it attractive to potential buyers.
Over the years, your home has been your castle. One advantage of owning a castle is that you can decorate it however you like. When it is time to sell your home, you need to divest it of anything that might turn buyers off from thinking that it could be their home.
Realtor’s® Tips To Increase The Show ability Of Your Home
Here are some suggestions that most real estate agents offer to their clients:
- Remove extra or oversized furniture to make your home look more spacious. Moving is a good time to consolidate your possessions, donate what you don’t need, and replace some worn out items. For items that will go to your new house, consider renting a storage unit for a couple months. If you have oversized furniture that you think will work in your new home, send that to the storage unit and rent some pieces on a smaller scale, as you will see on The Property Brothers and other TV home phones.
- Eradicate clutter from your home to again maximize space. Make sure that there is a place for everything, while throwing out or donating what you don’t need. Consider using your storage unit to store items you need that do not require for daily life.
- Depersonalize your home. This means removing family pictures that can distract potential buyers. While a photo or two might make your place seem homey, photo walls can tell a story to buyers that makes them interested in your family and prevents them from seeing your home as one that potentially might theirs.
- Store your collectibles. Your train set might be distracting, while your extensive collection of teapots might make your home seem too cluttered. Since you will be dismantling these things when you move, get an early start by packing them up and taking the boxes to your storage unit, if necessary.
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- Take down your sports memorabilia. That wall in your den that shows your loyalty to the Toronto Blue Jays or local team such as the Halifax Rainmen could offend a potential buyer with loyalty to a different team. Sports rivalries run deep and you don’t want to infuriate potential buyers.
- Minimize the presence of pets. While you should have pets contained, preferably off the property during home showings, you do not want buyers to be knocked over with pet smells, see an abundance of pet dishes or toys, or see evidence of pet damage. You may need to replace a stained, smelly rug or carpet or curtains full of snags from rambunctious kittens and sand and refinish doors and window sills that show signs of bites and scratches.
- Remove anything controversial. This might include mounted animal heads, art, photographs that contain nudity, or flags or posters that might be interpreted as racist or offensive to others.
Enlist An Impartial Third Party To Evaluate Your Home
While you might feel that you are hiding who you are by depersonalizing your home, it is important to remember that it is your house, not your lifestyle or personal preferences, that are up for grabs. Since it can be hard to objectively view your home, chat with your Realtor® Roy Thomas or with a stager who can help you get your home ready to show effectively.
If you are ready to sell your home for maximum value, the best place to start is by clicking here and scheduling an appointment.
Roy Thomas SRES® (Senior’s Real Estate Specialist) is a REALTOR® with Sutton Group Professional Realty. Since 1991, Roy specializes in helping retirees with their later in life real estate transactions. Call Roy at 902-497-3031 or contact Roy here
