While selling your home is an exciting step in your life, it can certainly be an overwhelming process! Prepping your house to show, vacating every time a showing is scheduled, packing up your belongings, and the closing process, all of these things can seem like quite a lot to deal with.

Don’t fear though, we have compiled a list of ways you can prepare your home to sell and ensure potential buyer’s interest! 

Clean Up!

• This seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how big a job it can really be. Give yourself plenty of time to sweep and vacuum, wipe down surfaces, and don’t forget to dust! Dusting oft-forgotten areas like the blades of any ceiling fans, blinds, shelves, and more will really be worth it when potential buyers start coming through your home. Don’t forget the low places such as baseboards, either!

Spark Some Joy & Declutter

• Any potential buyer wants to see a neat, well-organized home when they arrive. So, prior to any showings take a few days to declutter and organize your home. Now, we aren’t talking about shoving everything in the back of a closet, that is definitely a place prospective buyers will look. Take this opportunity to clean out that hall closet, pantry, or playroom and donate any old clothes/shoes/toys that have been sitting around taking up space. Your home and peace of mind will greatly benefit from a no-mercy cleanout, and buyers will notice! 

Neutralize 

• Have you ever walked into a home and been immediately struck by the, uh...bold paint color they chose? Yeah, us too. If you have any walls that are painted a bold, bright, vivid, eye-catching color, it may be beneficial to your home’s sale to paint them a nice neutral tone instead. The same goes for carpeting. You may love the dark green shag wall to wall carpeting in the den, but odds are, most won’t. So, the best colors that will appeal to a broad array of buyers are beiges, greys, whites, or light blues and greens. You want the attention on the home as a whole, not just the paint.

Clean Up Outside, Too

• Tidy up your yard too, it is the first impression buyers will have of your home. Put away any toys in the yard, coil up the hose, and rake the leaves in the fall. If it’s been snowy, try and ensure that all pathways are clear and free of ice. Mow the lawn prior to the start of showings, and tidy up or weed garden beds. Buyer’s impressions of your home’s outside is just as important as the inside. If you’re really feeling ambitious, break out that power washer and clean off anything that could use it. 

Blank Slate

• Now, if you’re anything like this writer, you have tons of family photos displayed throughout your house. However, you may want to put some of them away during the home-showing period. Not all, obviously, but bear in mind that buyers want to envision themselves in your home and that’s much easier to do when your family photos aren’t staring at them from every room. Removing some of the personalization helps present your home in a neutral light, instead of them not being able to see past the fact that this is your family’s home. 

If you take anything away from this blog post, let it be that your home should be neat, tidy, and neutral prior to showing it to potential buyers. To the best of your ability, fix any obvious problems), and you will see a return on your investment!