Home Selling 101: Part 1 – Sticky Homes

So your home has finally gotten too small, or you are ready to embark on a new position in another part of the state/country/world. This is part one of a three part series on getting your home and yourself ready for the sale of your home.

Mindset:  There is no try. Only do.yoda

As a seller, you have grown accustomed to your home. You’ve got your domicile to just the way you like it and now you have to sell it. Your home is an extension of who you are and now you are preparing to sell…well…a part of, an extension of you.

As you are preparing your home for the showings and eventual sale, keep the perspective of the buyer in mind. When you were/are looking for a home, were/are you more interested in inspecting the seller’s collection of Hummel’s or were/are you trying to place your furniture in their living room? As you were/are looking for a home yourself, chances are good that the home you eventually bought/will buy, is one that caused you to pause, ever so briefly, as you entered the front door. Something about the home caught your attention in that brief moment. You want to recreate just that pause for your prospective buyers.

That Pause – What?

Yep. That pause. I’ve experienced it myself as a buyer and seen it many times with buyer clients. Maybe it’s the gleaming hardwood floors, with the sunlight coming through the kitchen that does it, but that pause is golden. When a home speaks to a buyer like that, it will be hard for the prospective buyer to forget your home. In today’s housing market, with so many listings for buyers to consider, you want your home to be “stuck” in the buyer’s mind.

10 Ways to Make Your Home Sticky

  1. De-clutter your home:  Family photos, knick-knacks, magazines, piles of papers need to be minimized if not disappear all together
  2. Clean, Clean, Clean:  Clean your home top to bottom.  I’ve seen homes get purchased due to cleanliness over price as it shows the level of care that the owners showed their home
  3. Sparkle:  Hardwood or tile floors? Make sure those floors sparkle. Refinish those hardwoods if the daily traffic has worn the shine off, and don’t just drag a vacuum cleaner around on them (or if you do, read the hardwood floor vacuum reviews & buyers guides first to pick the right one).
  4. Light, Light, Light:  If you have a dark home, buy some floor lamps. If you have blinds and drapes over your windows, open them up. If you have dirty windows, clean them! Let the light shine!
  5. Curb Appeal:  Cut and trim the lawn. Weed the flower beds, heck, add flower beds.
  6. Clean the Carpet:  Don’t just drag a vacuum cleaner across the threads. If your carpet is older than nine (9) months, get a professional carpet cleaner in there.  You will be shocked at how much cleaner the carpet looks afterwards.
  7. Freshen the Air:  Animal, cooking or other possibly offensive odors need to disappear. Open up the windows, change the carpet, move the litter box, Febreze, whatever you can do to eliminate the odor.
  8. Evaluate Your Home:  Remember when you were looking for a home? Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer and see your home through their eyes.
  9. Price, Price, Price:  Even if your home sparkles so much that DTE calls you for some spare energy during peak power usage in the summer, if your home is over-priced it will take a long time for it to move.
  10. Availability:  Make sure that when you list your home, agents and buyers will not have to jump through flaming hoops to see your home. If it sparkles, is priced right, the final killer is making the showings difficult to set up.

[Yes, that’s Yoda twice in one day….]

8 Responses to Home Selling 101: Part 1 – Sticky Homes

  1. I know totally what you mean. I’ve gotten a couple of hon mentions too. I was almost jumping up and down. But, of course, blogging about RE can be a pretty solitary addiction. So I remained seated because I did not want to look too dorky in front of my co-workers, some of whom would have said, “huh? Blog?”

  2. […] A few words about our newest blog rollee. We are excited to have another South East Michigan Realtor to read, Ann Arbor’s Todd Waller. We just found Todd’s blog because he took home an Oscar in the Carnival of Real Estate for a very fine piece about doing everything it takes to get your home ready for sale. Todd’s got some great advice about how to get your home ‘Stuck‘ in the buyer’s mind. And, go look at his profile. He even put on a tux for the award ceremony. […]

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