I’m planning on selling my home pretty soon. What are the more important things involved in getting it ready to show so I’ll get the best price and avoid having it sit on the market?

Well, it is a Buyer’s Market, so it’s more important than ever in doing what you can to put your home’s best foot forward so it will be appealing and stand out from the crowd. Here’s a list of basic “Do”s and “Don’t”s that will serve you well as a guideline in any market.

DO:

1) Clean it. Get it scrupulously clean. Pay special attention to the kitchen and baths, the most important rooms in the house. Clean the grout in the bath tile. Replace the shower curtain with a new, fresh one. Always have clean towels on the racks. Wash all the windows so they’re clear and sparkling and bring in as much light as possible. One of the sacrifices home sellers must endure to give themselves the highest chance of success when showing your home is the obvious: have it show as you would when you have company over, important company, for a special occasion. Don’t leave things lying around; floors are mopped, carpets are vacuumed, the beds are made, dishes are out of the sink, the tub is scrubbed, newspapers and books are on the shelves, etc. Selling a home is not a “normal” way to live, but remind yourself that it’s temporary. You can go back to your ordinary, everyday, even “sloppy” ways after the house is sold.

2) Light up the house. No, don’t put in klieg lights and light it for Broadway, but make sure it’s as light and bright as genuinely possible. That means opening the curtains and blinds in the morning and leaving them open for showings, and putting in high-wattage bulbs in rooms that get less light, particularly hallways and smaller rooms.

3) Get rid of any annoying or offensive odors. If you smoke, don’t smoke inside but restrict your smoking to an outside area. If you have pets, be compulsive about changing the kitty litter and cleaning or washing bedding areas for your animals. Shampoo rugs and carpets if you need to. You can use plug-in type air fresheners in some rooms but don’t overdo it. As much as possible, best to ventilate the home well.

4) Paint. Painting the home, both interior and exterior, is the single most cost-effective improvement you can make to get the best return on your dollar. Nothing “spruces up” a home and makes it look inviting and fresh than a new coat of paint. Paint the outside of your home only if it really needs it– does your siding look faded and old? Has it been many years since your last paint job, and is the paint chipping and flaking? If so, paint the exterior. Drive around your neighborhood and look for the most popular color choices. Try to blend in with the surrounding homes and avoid any unusual color, e.g., purple. As for the inside, unless your interior’s been recently painted, go ahead and paint it. Neutral colors are always the safest; we used to call the proverbial “off-white” in the industry “resale white.” More vintage and/or upscale homes have recently been boasting “designer colors.” To make sure you’re not making a big mistake in your color choices, ask the advice of a good, experienced realtor or a painter who does a lot of “resale” painting work. You’ve probably seen some bold rusts and reds in dining rooms, and moss greens in bedrooms, and bright yellows in kitchens and so forth. It’s important that the colors fit the style and vintage of the home as well as the flow of other rooms, so any given room doesn’t stand out in an odd fashion.

5) DE-CLUTTER. In addition to cleanliness, this is probably the most important thing you can do. Most people, especially after living in their home for many years, simply have too much Stuff. Get rid of it. You may have too much furniture, blocking natural walking paths and making rooms feel smaller. Sell some, give it away, store it. If you have a gazillion potted plants, get rid of them, or move them outside. Get all those appliances off the kitchen shelves and put them in cupboards or store them in the garage or basement. Organize your closets so they look neat and roomy and things aren’t tumbling out on the floor every time you open a closet door. If you have a lot of nick-nacks and photos and chotchkies sitting on your coffee tables and bedside tables, etc., get rid of them; store them away. You get the idea. You want your living spaces to look open and clean and not filled to the rafters with your personal property.

6) Mow the lawn, water enough to keep it green, clean up the bushes and hedges. No need to go overboard but you want the exterior of your home, front and rear, to look well-kept and inviting. This is part of how a home shows off it’s “pride of ownership.”

7) Take a good look at your front door and front porch. This is the first thing people see before they even get out of their cars, and it’s the portal to what may be the biggest purchase of their lives. Is the door clean, does it need a fresh coat of paint? Is there a ratty old screen door in front, hanging loose on it’s hinges? Is the light bulb by the front porch working? Is it dirty or filled with dead flies? Do you have cardboard boxes sitting on your front porch, or dead potted plants? Think of your front door and porch like you’d think of your face as you get ready to step outside and go to work in the morning. Take care of it. Comb your hair, brush your teeth, scrub it clean, put on your make-up. Clean it up, make it shine!

SEE PART II for “the Don’t” list, coming up next week!

And most importantly, be healthy and happy in your home!
Zach Newman is an experienced, reliable and trusted Realtor in the Portland area. He is an agent for Re/Max Equity Group and he is a longtime member of PABA - Portland’s GLBT Chamber of Commerce. Call Zach at 503.287.8989 or visit his website at: http://www.equitygroup.com/zach.

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