








			Call Today! Joanne Parker and Associates Toll Free: 800-745-5647 Office: 910-256-0107 FAX: 910-397-7839 Or email us!

Preparation to Sell

Introduction

Selling a home takes hard work, both from you and your agent. A priority is preparation before listing your home and putting it on the market. Of course, the extent of the work you want and/or are willing/able to do is up to you. We assume that you want to get top dollar for your home, and that you have some minimal resources to do some work on your home.

However, we recognize that there are situations and clients who are unable or unwilling to prepare their home due to a host of good reasons. Whatever your level of ability or desire of preparation, we will fully represent you and your interests.

We believe that with little or no money and work, that you can increase the attraction factor of your home to buyers. We want to make some recommendations on getting your home prepared to sell.

Exterior and Interior Preparation

Homebuyers need to be able to imagine themselves in your home. We believe that making them “space” to be able to do that is important. The exterior and interior of the home are the point of entry for homebuyers in the purchasing process. To provide them space physically and imaginatively, we recommend the following to you.

First, curb appeal is key. How your home looks on first view is extremely important. First impressions are important. What makes up good curb appeal? Balanced, manicured and neat landscaping, a clean and maintained exterior, open access to parking, and unhindered access to the entry into the home.

You may want to landscape the yard, trim the bushes and shrubs, edge, mow and weed-eat the grass, repaint the exterior trim on the home, create more room at the entry way, clean off the roof, clean-out gutters, make any needed repairs on the exterior of the home, etc. These will make your home “shine” from the curb, create a great first impression, and invite prospective buyers into your home.

Second, how your home looks inside is important. There are four terms that guide our recommendations for preparation of the interior of your home. Cleanliness, Color, Finish, and Balance.

Cleanliness

Every homeowner has their own standard as to the upkeep and cleanliness of their home. However, in anticipating the showing of your home, we ask you to give special attention to the tidiness and cleanliness of your home.

Color

Colors have a dramatic impact on people and their reactions. Some colors are more congenial than others. Deep dark and bright colors often, but not always, detract. Suppose you painted a child’s room “hot” pink, or a teenager’s room “shocking” purple. What happens to a buyer when this occurs, is that their reaction to the color is so intense that they fail to “see” the room. We recommend that you consider painting rooms that have either very bright, or deep dark colors. If painting we suggest neutral colors. Also, some wallpapers fall into the same category - given their colors and pattern.

Finish

Buyers and their agents look at your home as a whole to fit their needs and desires, and at the small detail. The attention to small things can make a big difference as to how buyers see and experience your home. The less issues there are with the small details, the better your home will be received.

The goal is to showplace your home - and to enable the prospective homebuyer see the home without encountering any obstacles to their decision making process - or in their experience of the home. A loose knob on a kitchen cabinet, a loose door knob on the back door, or screen, or to a bedroom, an improperly installed shade, an unchanged air filter, dust on the ceiling fan or fixtures, etc are all examples of finish that may detract, and thus need your attention.

Balance

Buyers experience the design and space of your home. Think about how buyers will walk through your home, and view it. Will it be easy for them to get through your home? Will they not only see the rooms in your home, but “feel” them as well?

We recommend that you consider what you might need to do to really “show off” both the floor plan and expanse of your home. We suggest that you give some attention to the “balance” of furniture in your home. Proportion, quantity, and placement of furniture are all important. What we encounter most often is one or more of the following: too much furniture in a space or bulky furniture that crowds the space making it feel smaller than it is, less than optimal placement of furniture that restricts the “flow“ of the house, too many personal photos to which buyers might respond to by feeling that they are “intruders” in your home, a great number of plants that may block “flow“ or light; etc.

Structure

Structural elements of homes, sooner or later, inevitably need repair. We suggest, if you are able, to strongly consider making structural repairs, of which you are aware, prior to listing and marketing the home.

Why? Structural problems affect the integrity of the home thus impacting the property’s value, use and marketability. Some of the common areas that we have encountered with structural issues are with windows, doors, flooring, the roof, substructure, faucets and plumbing, soffitt and fascia boards, gutters, moisture issues in crawl space, drainage around the house, etc.

Systems and Components

Electrical systems and components affect the habitability of the home, and therefore buyers are keenly aware as to their condition and working order.

Therefore, the HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system, hot water system, appliances, etc needs to be operating adequately for the purposes intended.

In addition to the above components, missing or broken knobs on the stove, a stove burner that does not operate, an inoperable garbage disposal, a non-working exhaust fan over stove or in a bathroom, a faulty water dispenser, etc. are all examples of some of the things that can become an obstacle to the buyer.

Also, light bulbs need to be installed and working properly. Agents do cut on most, if not all the lights in a home that they are showing with clients. Why not let your home truly be bright! We believe there is no need to artificially create concern about problems with the “electrical” condition of the home, when there is not a substantive issue.