Deciding to sell your home is a big decision to make. No matter the reason why you opt to sell your home, it is critical to ensure your home is in proper selling condition. This typically starts with a good, deep cleaning of your home. In fact, having a clean home can increase your sale price by 3-5%!
While it may seem obvious that a clean home sells, there are some important things to consider. There are many different things that contribute to a potential seller’s view of the home. There are also a few different ways to help get your home ready to sell. Continue reading for some vital tips about cleaning and preparing your home to sell.
Remove The Clutter
Above all else, one of the most important things to do when preparing your home for the market is to declutter. Not only can decluttering make any space feel a bit cleaner, but it can also help a potential buyer see the home as open and welcoming.
After years of living in a home, things tend to pile up. When you sell your home, the build-up of stuff can become an eyesore to potential buyers. While time-consuming, taking the time to rid your home of clutter is crucial when showing your home. Potential buyers need to be able to imagine their own things in your home. Imagining themselves in your home can be difficult if their vision is impaired by excessive clutter or even things that are more personalized to you or your family.
Channeling your inner Mari Kondo is a great way to start sorting your belongings. Once you have gathered all the items that spark joy, store them neatly in closets, bins, or cabinets. This gives potential buyers a blanker canvas to envision what it could look like living in your home. This also proves the potential buyer’s ideas on how they could arrange and decorate the space if they were to live in your home.
Focus on Specific Rooms
Kitchens and master bathrooms are the two rooms that have the most influence when selling a home. Whether or not your kitchen or bathroom has been updated, making sure they are clean and smell nice is essential before showing.
Before the pandemic, bedrooms typically had little influence on the home-buying process. Now, buyers view bedrooms as more than just a room for sleep, but rather an escape from reality. Therefore, buyers are weighing bedrooms much heavier than they did in the past.
To ensure your bedroom is up to par, make sure you make your bed with fresh, clean linens. This is not only pleasing to the eye but also creates a sense of calmness when potential buyers enter your room. If you want to kick things up a notch, use a citrus-scented detergent to help boost a potential sale.
Floors, Floors, Floors
While the type of flooring you have throughout your home can influence your home’s value, the cleanliness of your floors can influence buyers when showing. If your floors have not seen a good washing in some time, there is no better time than before selling your home.
Whether you have hardwood, vinyl, tile, laminate, or carpet throughout your home, take the time to examine every inch. Before showing your home, any stains, cracks, or other discrepancies should be addressed.
If you have carpet, you can rent or borrow a carpet shampooer (if you don’t own one) to deep clean the carpet and remove any stains. If you have wood, apply polish to leave your floors sparkling. If you have tile, use a steamer to remove stains from the grout, making your tile look like it was just installed.
Don’t Forget About the Exterior
Cleaning your home isn’t restricted to its interior. When putting your home on the market, it is important that your exterior is also spruced up.
Your home’s exterior is the very first thing buyers will see. It’s essentially the first impression a potential buyer has on your home. Ensuring your lawn and landscaping are neat and tidy evokes a sense of home and confidence in your buyer. If you want to take your property to the next level, mowing your lawn in a uniform direction that creates lawn lines helps make your home pop.
Another thing to consider on the exterior of your home is your deck (if your home has one). If the wood is in rough shape or is severely stained with dirt, giving it a good once-over with a power washer can help make it look brand new. Once it has been power washed, giving your deck a fresh coat of paint or stain can help make it more appealing to potential buyers.
Bonus tip!
Once your home has been cleaned and organized, staging your home in accordance with market needs can significantly help when trying to sell your home.
Given the large portion of the population that now works from home, staging your home with a home office (if one doesn’t already exist) can help when trying to please potential buyers.
Whether you decide to dedicate a spare bedroom or a portion of your living room to a home office, highlighting the potential for a work-from-home setting is especially important post-pandemic.
Put it Into Action
The ultimate goal of preparing your home is to be able to get the best possible offers. There is no one-size-fits-all method when it comes to preparing your home to sell.
Depending on the materials used throughout your home, some things may be at the forefront of preparation than others. While most sellers think they need to invest thousands of dollars in updates to get the most out of their home, a deep clean can often do the trick.
The bottom line is that a clean home allows potential buyers to envision themselves living in your home without the dirt and clutter. It gives them an immersive experience, allowing them to visualize their belongings in the space.
If you are planning on making a move, Olde World Movers is here to help. Learn more about our offers and services by visiting our website.
