Prep Your Home for Sale

If you want to sell your home, it's a good idea to be as prepared as possible. Before you show your home, get it looking the best it can to impress potential buyers or investors. Here are ten quick and easy tips to ready your home for sale.

1. Maximize 'curb appeal.' The outside of your home is as important as the inside. Buyers will see the yard before they see the house. A messy yard will send them driving right on past your property. Keep the grass cut and the bushes trimmed. Remove any trash or debris from the yard. Consult with a landscape company or a local nursery to find ways to beautify your outdoor areas, including the back yard.

2. Clean the windows. How many of us actually do this more than once or twice a year? Buyers will be looking to see when you did it last. Windows that tilt in make for easier cleaning. Use a pressure washer for second floor windows.

3. Repaint any problem areas. Paint chips over time. If you have baseboards that are looking shabby or peeling exterior paint, give these areas a fresh coat of paint.

4. Have a huge yard sale. You'll need to get rid of anything that clutters closets, the garage, doorways, hallways, and cupboards. To remove these things quickly and efficiently, hold a yard sale. (You may even make a few dollars!) What doesn't sell can be given to charity or taken to the garbage dump.

5. Have the carpets cleaned. A professional cleaning gives carpets new life. A deep cleaning of the carpets in all the rooms is recommended.

6. Check your appliances. Be sure that all major appliances are in good working order. Also read the warranty on each appliance that came with the home. Know when they are about to expire and if you have replaced anything, know when that was done.

7. If applicable, clean the siding. Siding is more durable than paint on newer homes. But siding does get dirty. Pressure washing removes dirt and grime from exterior surfaces. Use it for the garage, windows, driveways, and siding.

8. Replace light bulbs and broken fixtures. The family may not mind if one globe is out in the bathroom vanity but it's not good for a prospective buyer to see. Make sure all fuses and light switches are working and any broken bulbs have been replaced.

9. Send the pets away for a while. Homes that have had pets are hard to sell. Carpet smells and pet dander are still evident even after cleaning. Start early and have carpets and walls cleaned. Restrict pets to carriers or crates in non-carpeted areas of the home.

10. Add pleasant smells. You don't want the place to smell like pets or children, but buyers shouldn't be overcome by ammonia fumes, either. Clean a day or two in advance of an open house. Light candles, use candle warmers, or use plug-in air fresheners to blanket the home in sweet scents that will welcome not repulse any buyers.

Selling a home is a lot of work. Use these tips to make it a little easier by increasing the amount of interest your home draws from those would-be buyers.