How to prepare to sell your home | Monday Minute October 26, 2020

In this fast moving market, can I just sell my house as is and capitalize on this amazing time? The answer is yes but don't expect top dollar right now. What we've been seeing over the last couple years is that there's a trend of home buyers and home sellers. People are more likely to buy and sell more often than ever before. Most people back in the day were about five to seven+ years in their first or second home. Now we're seeing people moving between three to five years at max. That means people are looking for something a little bit more move-in ready because they don't have that “I'll get to that in 5 or 10 years and add that on to my home.” They're looking for the then and now. If you want to capitalize on this crazy increase in sale price, the first impression is going to matter more than ever. So, let's get into it.What should we do in preparing our house for sell well? I have four different points that I want to talk about.First - curb appeal. This is the first thing they're going to see when looking online because that's where most people are going to start their search and it's the first thing when they drive up to the property. A couple things that I recommend are first think about your front yard and the front entryway. Whether that be fresh mulch, fresh sealed driveway or that fresh paint and caulk around the door where it is going to get weathered from the sun in time. Those first impressions are going to lead right into the rest of their walk through of the house and if they're online whether or not they move on to the next picture.Next – paint and carpet. A lot of people ask me: “Should I replace the carpet? Should I paint? Should I just offer a credit since it’s faster? Well right now when we know that people are paying top dollar for a property, they're more willing to do it if they don't have to do any work. The number one thing that is going to change the look of a home is paint and carpet. I recommend when picking paint and carpet that you choose colors that are going to be brighter, reflecting more light, making the home feel more open and allowing more light to shine in.Next - odors. The last thing you want is walking through a house and have a bad smell. Whether that be cigarette, food, or a musk. There are a lot of different ways that you can remove those odors, but that odor is going to stop someone from wanting to pay top dollar. The thing potential buyers are going to be thinking is how to fix that and how much is that going to cost.Lastly – staging. I am not talking necessarily about buying other furniture to bring into the home to stage specifically; I'm talking about Marie Kondo in your home. That means tidying up, organizing, thinning out your years of collected items. When you walk through the home you want to have a flow and really feel the openness of the home. Obviously when we are living in a home, we've collected all of our amazing chachkies and furniture that we want to put on display and that's great while we're living there. But when you are selling this to somebody else you want them to visualize themselves moving in and seeing this is their new home. The more flow you can create by thinning out some of those items is going to make that feel more open, more organized and it's going to help you increase your chances on getting that top dollar offer and multiple offers.