Help Your Realtor Sell Your Home More Effectively – Part II
A Few Pointers
A buyer’s first impression is the exterior of your home. Helping the real estate agent sell your home using these tips will make it easier for them to sell your home more quickly and for more money. Here are some tips to help make an impression:
1. Continuing with the exterior of the home you will want to look at the exterior lighting. If all it takes to fix an exterior is the price of a bulb it is money well spent. Check your bulbs in the front, back and side. Also, check any track lighting to see if repairs should be made or bulbs replaced to make them look more inviting and help sell your home. This is especially good to do if your buyers come in the evening hours. It will make it more inviting to your buyers.
If you haven’t taken down last year’s Christmas lights, now is the time to take them down and pack them away. For instance, spring and summer are not the appropriate times of year to deck the halls.
2. Gutters and chimneys should be clean and debris free. If you are unable to do this yourself it should be relatively inexpensive to have done. Be sure that there are no parts of the guttering missing or coming apart from the house.
3. If the paint on the house is not bad, touching it up and paying close attention to window trim will add the finishing touches that will go a long way to making the house look very well-kept. Painting the whole outside of the house will be in your best interest if it is severely pealing and chipping away from the house. Go with a light neutral inviting color appropriate for the neighborhood. Avoid bold dark coloring schemes as they will take away from the buyer's focus on the rest of your home.
4. Driveways and sidewalks should be clear of all oil spots and grease, take the time to sweep and clear dirt, rocks, and leaves off. If there are unsightly cracks in the driveway or sidewalks most cases these can be repaired with little expense and will make a difference in its overall appearance to the buyers.
5. Moving on to the carport or garage you should make them clean, and tidy as well as debris and clutter-free. Make repairs on the interior and exterior that will be a low expense and make the overall look of it better. Garage doors should be closed when the buyers come to look at your home. Replace non-working lights and make sure any garage door openers are in good working condition.
The work done to the garage can add a lot to your asking price. In many cases, you get one buyer that loves the home and the spouse that simply loves the shop. If they fall in love with the home from the time they pull in the driveway it will go a long way to making the interior of the house look even better to them and less likely to want to haggle you on the selling price of the home.
If you have a lot of clutter in your carport or garage consider an inexpensive storage unit. Possibly a neighbor or friend would also be an inexpensive candidate to store clutter that you are keeping until you get your house sold and move into a new home.
6. Touch up outside air conditioners with paint and if possible replace broken or rusted parts and check that they are draining properly.
7. Cracked foundations are a big turn-off for a lot of potential buyers they would view that as a big expense. If these are not being repaired you may want to have a free estimate done to show the expense they will incur will be less than they thought. This will also be a factor that will affect your asking price. Ask your real estate agent their opinion.
8. Don’t forget the pool or hot tub. Keep these free of debris and appeal to your buyer.
Part 3 we will move our buyers into the home.