Ways to Prep Your Home for Sale

Looking to list your home in the next year? What are some of the best ways to prepare your home for listing?  Here are our top tips...

1. Declutter. Whether you need to find a professional home organizer or simply streamline and store, give each room a keen eye and always remember less is more.

2. De-personalize. Potential buyers want to imagine themselves in the space. Get rid of all personal photos, vacation mementos, and chachkies.

3. Clean up your landscaping. Weed. Demold. Plant something simple that blooms or find a flowering pot for your front porch. Add bark dust or top soil to your flower beds and edge and mow the lawn. People will safely assume that a well-kept garden reflects a well-kept home and pride of ownership.

4. Use touch up paint around your home. Living in a house you don't even realize how things get a little banged up here and there but the little wear and tear will be seen immediately by a potential buyer and will be costly. Paint is one of the easiest ways to clean up and refresh your home.

5. Remove window treatments. The goal is to bring in as much light and brightness into the space. Window treatments can also make a room feel smaller. Lose the curtains.

6. Fix any noticeable repairs. Unfinished trim, a broken shutter, a bent gutter.

7. Clean your roof. Leaves, pine needles and mold on the roof make your home look sloppy and unkept. Here in Oregon, it's important to keep your roof cleaned regularly so that the inevitable moisture that collects in a rain forest environment doesn't cause long term damage. Cleaning the roof before listing the home makes the house present well.

8. Staging. We will always pay for staging. Staging a home helps potential buyers to visualize themselves in it and is aspirational and elevates the look and feel of the home. It is worth every penny. Time and again, we have found that staged homes sell faster and for a higher price than an unstaged home. According to the National Association of Realtors, staged homes get up to 5% more offers in the same market than a non-staged home and is known to increase the home's price between 6-10%.

Not sure where to begin? We are here to help. When you're ready to think about listing your home, give us a call. We can provide you with the research and guidance to best position your home in the most profitable and professional light.