Listing Preparation

Debbie Kirkland, Broker

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GET STARTED RIGHT AWAY

Time does click away when you are working, and living in a home while preparing it for sale or while it is on the market. We understand that this can be a daunting task but want you to feel you have partners in the home selling experience. Our list will be in order of a common sense approach to preparing your home for sale.

EVERYTHING HAS A PLACE ... AND POTENTIALLY HAD IT’S TIME

• De-cluttering is first on the list. Some call this process pre-packing, sorting, purging – It’s all the same to us. Buyers want to see that you are ready to move in a timely manner, If you are busting at the seams, if your home looks like 40 people live there instead of four, they may choose the path of least resistance of another home that they feel sellers can move out of quickly and that will require not as much clean up.

• Each person in the home should decide now, what they will need for the next few months of the listing, and what they will never touch, never need or use during that time period. Those non-essentials go in a box. This is the time to decide does it stay, does it go to charity or re-purposing, or does it get trashed. This includes photos, artwork, clothes, shoes, keepsakes and valuables (which should be packed no matter what), books, and toiletries.

• Storage of your boxes and items packed should not be in the garage if possible. While storage fees can be costly, pre-packing will allow you to organize your paid-for storage unit more efficiently, pack it more safely, and label it correctly for the move to your NEW home. Using a storage unit facility near your home may make it easier for you to take a few boxes a day as items are sorted in your home.

• After boxes are packed, the next steps can be accomplished. Cleaning, Painting, Re-Staging to SELL.

SIGHTS, SOUNDS, SMELLS, AND FEELINGS

• Buyers experience all of these things the minute they enter your home. Having a home for sale is hard if you live, or work in the home during the listing period. Remembering to take the garbage out every day, to change the litter box, everyday, to put dishes away everyday, to make beds and put clothes away everyday will be more work for you, but remember, your goal is to make someone fall in love with your home and to see themselves living there! Keep your home clean, smelling good and

sorting boxing storage/donation

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fresh. The task list below are observances from our walk-thru of your home. If you need help or professional service recommendations for cleaners, painters, storage facilities, stagers or designers, please let us know. Don’t forget the OUTSIDE is as important as the inside!

Here some tips for you (believe it or not, everyone gets these, not just you!):

• Overall, much packing must be done. You can eliminate a lot of items on the floor, on small shelves, on bathroom and kitchen counters, on top of appliances and shelves, simply by beginning to pack your sentimental items. This should take one weekend moving from Kitchen, to living room, to bedrooms to garage.

• Secondly, look inside closets and cabinets. Storage in most homes is limited, and after “life” happens, we overstuff closets and cabinets. Again, purging of items not used every day, to items that are used and “re-staging” your cupboards, cabinets, shelves and closets will leave you feeling great bout the rest of your tasks. Ask us about our tricks for organizing sheets, and kitchen cabinets!

• Deep cleaning is next. Rolling the refrigerator out, pulling the stove out, cleaning under and on walls around those units is necessary. Cleaning ceiling fan blades and motor housings. Changing air filters and washing return air vents, dusting the tops of planter shelves (and removing all evidence of liquor or empty wine bottles) is critical. Let’s look at tile grout and the base of toilets. If it’s stained, dig it out, and spend $3.97 for silicone caulk and re-caulk. If you have cracked or deeply stained grout from years of abuse, hire a professional to clean with acids to make look new. Clean garbage disposals, dryer vents, trash cans, refrigerator drawers, stove tops and ovens. Dog and cat smells – you’ve been living with them so long you may be immune… get a true friend or neighbor to tell you if your house smells like dog or cat, gerbil or egad,..lizards!

• After all non-essentials have been packed, and essentials re-defined and re-organized, then we look at Ceilings, walls, baseboards and flooring. This may take professional help if you are not handy with paint, spackling, or running a carpet cleaner. Fresh paint is one of the most redeemable investments you can make. It smells clean, it rejuvenates everywhere it touches, but don’t skimp and “tough up paint.” Invest in rollers, and paint entire walls floor to ceiling. Do not miss the baseboards, door and window trim. Replace, don’t try to patch woodwork that is broken, split, where dogs or cats have chewed or clawed. Paint can’t hide everything. Remove large molly-type bolts and plastic parts before painting.

• Re-staging. Now that you are clean and organized, what’s left to work with? Do you need lighting? Do you need color? Do you need to retire the greasy love seat or recliner? If a sofa has to be covered because it’s torn up, unless you can spend money to re-cover it, it belongs in your garage. For a few months, you can sit somewhere else and Fido can sleep in a crate (which you

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will need for showings anyway.) Changing linens may help give color and add modern appeal as well as get rid of Fido’s au-naturel musk. If you just don’t have a flair for this, ask a professional stager. A few hours with them, a few dollars invested in letting them work may make you want to stay in your home…but is sure to bring you a buyer faster. We can validate this.

SHOWING APPOINTMENTS

It never fails, just when you sit down to dinner or plan a party, the call will come. Please know, we do not expect you to change plans every time a home is to be shown. If an appointment is completely going to wreck your day or evening, give us alternative times for the interested buyer. We will help make it easier for you and for them. The more prepared you are however, the less stress you will have. Keeping up with chores and keeping your home “hotel” clean, will help you respond quickly for showings. Here are few things to remember to do prior to showings:

• Take the trash out daily

• Put laundry away, dirty and clean

• Make beds and straighten bathrooms – including hanging towels, etc.

• Sweep floors, walkways and porches often

• If you are home, leave lights on,.. as many as you can, even in the daytime. You can leave a note if you want Realtors to turn them off, or if you are coming back soon anyway.

• Open blinds and curtains by glass or patio doors

• Light a pleasant, mild candle or spray fresh linen or light scent in home.

• Remove all jewelry and secure any extremely valuable items, including guns or weapons (lock those up in a closet if you have them.)

If you must be home for a showing, or if you return early while home is being shown, just step outside, in a garage if raining, or take a walk down the street. Give the buyer space and uninterrupted time with their Realtor. Questions will be asked after showings via your Realtor.

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST

Get ready to move,… and relax when you can, enjoy your fresh, clean home but think about your dream home and what matters to you as you tour for your next home!

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