Selling your home, especially if you’ve never done it before, can be surprisingly time consuming and emotionally challenging. Strangers will poke around in your closets and cabinets. They will criticize a place that has probably become more than just four walls and a roof to you. Then, to top it all off, they might even offer you less than what you think your home is worth.
When entering into such a complex, emotional transaction, it’s easy for you to make mistakes. But, with our help and experience you can avoid many common slip ups.
Here are the top 10 mistakes to avoid when preparing your home for sale:
1. Neglecting Repairs and Maintenance
Buyers are always looking for a deal so making sure all necessary repairs and maintenance are done will help to eliminate their negative checklist.
2. Not Depersonalizing
Buyers need to be able to envision themselves living in your home. To help them achieve this vision, you should remove all distractions by packing away all personal photos and collectibles. This will allow buyers to imagine the home as their own and not someone else’s.
3. Not Removing Odours
You have only one chance to make a great first impression. If buyers walk into your home and smell smoke, pets, or strong cooking smells they may be turned off and either cross your home off their list or reduce their offer price.
4. Refusing to Disconnect Emotionally
Now that you’ve decided to sell your home, try to start thinking of yourself as a business person and a home seller rather than a home owner. By looking at the transaction from a purely financial perspective, you’ll distant yourself from the emotional aspects of selling a property in which you undoubtedly created many memories. Also, try to remember how you felt when you were shopping for your home – most buyers will also be in an emotional state. You’re selling, not just a piece of property but also, an image, a dream and a lifestyle.
5. Spot Cleaning vs. “Q-Tip” Cleaning
Your home’s first impression is a lasting one. So, show potential buyers that your home has been well maintained by making sure it sparkles. Dirty homes are a big turn off for buyers.
6. Not Showing a Room’s Proper Function
Buyers can have a hard time visualizing how their furniture can fit into a room, so, you need to show them. If you have your dining room set up as a children’s playroom, most buyers will not be able to see themselves enjoying family dinners in that space.
7. Not Having Enough Light
Poorly lit rooms can be a turn off for most buyers- especially during evenings or overcast days. Dark corners can make a room feel smaller. To brighten up a room, add more light fixtures, open or remove window treatments, trim any trees or shrubs blocking the windows, or repaint darker rooms with a colour that reflects light.
8. Not Investing Money in Updates
Today’s buyers are willing to spend the extra money to get an updated and well maintained home that is in move-in condition. Investing in your home will increase your equity and help sell your home faster and for more money.
9. Ignoring Professional Advice
When it comes to selling your home it is in your best interest to take the advice of the experts. An experienced realtor will know how to price your home, so it will sell quickly and for the best possible price. Your agent will also work with. team of experts such as home stagers and inspectors- so taking their advice will not only get your home sold quickly, but it will increase your equity as well.
10. Listing Before Staging or Renovations
Most buyers who are interested in your home will view it within the first 2 weeks after listing. So, making sure you are model-home-ready will increase your chances of having your home sell quickly.
Most of these mistakes can be corrected without spending a lot of money.
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