Top 5 Ways to Improve the Condition of Your Home for Sale

The condition of your home can make all the difference when you are looking to sell your home. Here are the Top 5 tips to improve the condition of your home for sale:

1. Remove the clutter. Remove the clutter. Remove the clutter.

You are moving, right? Take this opportunity to start doing a little pre-packing. Take all the stuff that you do not use on a regular basis and pack it. If you need to, you can rent a small storage unit for a few months until your home sells.

• Remove all unused kitchen appliances form countertops. Make your kitchen seem more spacious.
• Pack most (if not all) of the pictures you have hanging up or displayed on shelves. Let potential buyers visualize their family there, not yours.
• Shelves, desks, tables and other flat areas should be as empty as possible. Too much clutter in these areas tells a potential buyer that there is not enough storage in the home.
• Remove furniture clutter. Keep oinly the essential furniture items in your home. It just makes it look larger, with less furniture.

If you are too busy, or are having a difficult time figuring out what should go and what should stay, consider hiring a professional home stager to guide you in your de-cluttering process.

2. Paint

A fresh coat of neutral interior paint can make a home feel like new to a potential home buyer. Paint is relatively inexpensive and the results are always better than you would think. It is important to choose a neutral color, as your taste will never match a home buyer's taste. Trust me on this one.

3. Carpet

If your carpet is old, worn, outdated or a non-neutral color you will want to replace it - even if only in the living areas. Like fresh paint, new carpet can make a home feel like new to potential home buyers. Home buyers have a very hard time seeing past bad carpet, even if you offer a "carpet allowance", it wont bring near the interest like new carpet can.

If you have relatively new carpet, make sure that it is thoroughly cleaned before you put it on the market.

4. Smell

Part of having your home in the best condition to sell is maintaining a neutral smell. Your home needs to  smell good. No one wants to walk through, let alone BUY a smelly home. And no one can see past smell.

• Do not cook fish or any other kind of pugnant meals while you are trying to sell your home. You may be used to the smell, but no one else is.
• If you have pets, make sure your house does not smell like them. The worst thing in the world is to walk into a house for sale and smell a gerbil cage, cat pee or a wet dog. Ew.
• Do not, under any circumstances, try to cover up a smell with room freshner. It only makes it worse. A small amount of freshner is fine, but don't make your home smell like the aftermath of a Glade Factory explosion. I would rather smell the gerbil cage.

5. Curb Appeal

The outside of your home is the first thing people see - whether online or driving by. Many home buyers will drive by a home for sale and make a decision on whether or not they want to see it, based purely on curb appeal. If repainting the exterior of your home is out of the question, then consider these handy tips for improving the curb appeal of your home.

• Peplace or repaint your front door. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then the door is the, well, door to your house.
• Make sure your door harware and locks look nice and work perfectly.
• Clean up lawn debris from the front and sides of your home, and trim your trees/bushes. It doesn't have to be perfectly manicured (although that helps) - it just needs to be neat and clean.
• Clean the windows - both inside and out.
• If you have a mailbox, make sure it looks like new. Or get a new one.
• Remove all junk (including unused/junk cars) from the front and visible side yards. Nothing says "Go Away!" like an engine block on the front porch.
• Do you have a fence that is partially visible from the front? Fix all holes and re-stain/paint it as needed.

Following these 5 tips will almost guarantee your success in selling your home.

Posted By: Mariana Wagner - Colorado Springs Real Estate Agent - Wagner iTeam
The Wagner iTeam is a power team of Keller Williams Clients' Choice Realty, specializing in Colorado Springs Real Estate and Monument Real Estate.