Selling your home involves a lot of preparation, even before you create a listing. To get good offers, you must first prepare your home to attract buyers. If you’re motivated to
sell a house quickly and at the highest price possible, follow this guide to get your house ready.
4 Steps to Take Before Putting Your House Up for Sale
1. Make Updates
Not many people are willing to buy a house that needs a lot of work. Resolve major blemishes and damaged items to improve the home's first impression. Caulk cracks, patch holes, fix plumbing issues, replace broken shingles and HVAC systems, and repair appliances and fixtures. If the siding, front door, porch, and deck look worn down, repaint them. You can even consider remodeling the kitchen and bathroom, which offer the most return on investment if they’re extremely outdated.
2. Clean Up
To sell a house, you must show that it’s a healthy, stable environment and help buyers picture themselves living there. Deep-clean every room, including the walls, ceilings, floors, windows, cabinets, and appliances. Your goal is to eliminate odors, messes, stains, and germs. To make room for the buyers’ imaginations with their own possessions, declutter and clear out most of your personal belongings. Put them in storage if you can’t move them to a new place.
3. Stage Rooms
While clearing out the house, leave a few pieces of neutral furniture or artwork to enhance the atmosphere and highlight attractive features. You can also incorporate potted plants to add natural beauty and fragrance. Since you’ll have to stock up on light bulbs to keep the lights on during showings, invest in LED bulbs, which combine quality with efficiency, so your home feels bigger, brighter, and more inviting.
4. Get Photographs
You’re unlikely to sell a house without showing potential buyers what it looks like first. Once it’s clean, updated, and staged, ask a professional photographer to take pictures of the interior and exterior. They’ll know the best angles and editing techniques to help your home appear as enticing as possible on real estate marketing websites.
