Get Your Home Ready to Sell

If you've been thinking about selling your house, spring is a good time to do it. In Arizona, potential snowbirds may be shopping. In Oregon, your weather is more conducive to house shopping in the summer, and spring is a great time to get it ready. Besides, in spring you'll be doing your spring cleaning anyway, so it's the perfect time to do it.

Make the Outside Appealing
Put yourself in a buyer’s shoes. You are excited to see this house your realtor told you about, but when you pull up you see it could use a little work—weeds in the landscaping, a dated paint job and dirty windows don’t make you want to go in, right? Curb appeal is incredibly important and involves things that are fairly easy to do, like:

• Paint – Typically, a house needs to be repainted every 5-10 years. If it’s been longer than that since you've painted, it may be time. If the paint is in good condition, freshening up the shutters, trim and front door can really brighten up a house.
• Update, Clean and Refresh – You might be surprised to see how dirty the outside of your house and your front door can be. If your house has stucco or vinyl siding that has mold on it, power wash it. If there are oil stains on your driveway, clean them off. This should be obvious, but put away kids toys and bikes as well. If your house numbers are faded or outdated, get new ones. Even freshening up your mailbox can make a big difference. (Instead of stick-on numbers, why not affix a pretty house number sign to your mailbox post?) Sometimes adding new garage door hardware can make a difference too. If you have a steel garage door, magnetic garage door hardware is inexpensive and easy to install.
• Landscape – Mowing and trimming are obviously important, but if there are weeds in your landscaping, pull them. If your lawn has dead or dry spots, try fertilizing and watering those. Also, fix any edging or paver stones that are out of place. New mulch or rock in landscaping and around trees adds a refreshed look, and you might even consider planting some flowers to brighten things up a bit.
• Make Repairs – If shutters are falling off, nail them back on. If your roof or gutters need to be repaired, take care of that as well. Got any steps that need to be fixed or broken spots in any fencing? Fix ‘em! These things are likely to come up on a home inspection, so you'd probably have to fix them anyway.

Inside Too
When you're getting the inside of your home ready to sell, the first thing you should do is de-clutter. This means cleaning out closets and basements, then selling or donating items you no longer need to make your closets look bigger, which is a huge selling point.

The next—and possibly most important—thing to do is give the rooms a good deep cleaning. This includes cleaning blinds, baseboards, doors, ceiling fans, heat registers, appliances, windows and more that you typically only need to do once or twice a year. (As we said before, that’s why spring is a great time to get your house ready to sell—you’re likely already doing at least some of these things anyway.)

Just as you did with the outside of your house, determine if any touch-up painting or repairs need to be done and take care of it. Once you've given the house a good cleaning, it will be easier to tell if baseboards, cabinets or doors are scratched or nicked.

The last step is to stage your home to sell. Part of staging is de-cluttering, but there are other things you can do to make your home more appealing:

• Rearrange furniture to make rooms look bigger. You might even consider moving some furniture to another room, putting it in storage temporarily or selling it.
• Increase the wattage of your light bulbs—but use soft white, even if your bulbs are LED.
• If you have an open floor plan, paint adjacent rooms the same color. If the rooms are small, this can help them look larger. Just stick with updated, neutral colors.
• A vase of fresh flowers on the kitchen table when you know there will be a showing is a nice touch.
• Make sure your home smells good. Bake something before a showing or throw some cinnamon sticks into a pan of boiling water to make your home smell inviting.
• Paint or reface your cabinets. If your cabinets are a bit outdated, this is an cheaper alternative to new cabinets.

Even if you list your house at a different time of year, these updates can help make it more attractive to potential buyers, and your neighbors might appreciate it too. You may even fall in love with your house all over again!