Fsbo

1. Make room. Clear out as much furniture as you can. Put it in storage, give it to Goodwill Industries or have a garage sale. Hallways and doorways, in particular, need to be clear and open.

2. Use counter intelligence. Go through the house and clear off all the horizontal surfaces like kitchen and bathroom countertops. Old magazines? Toss ‘em. Knick-knacks? Pack ‘em. Counters need to be clear and clean.

3. Follow your nose. A home should smell good. That means no noticeable odor — no pet scent, no stale cooking smells and no cigarette smoke. Remember the old story about the smell of baking bread or steaming cinnamon potpourri? Today’s real estate pros say it’s a no-no. Ditto the scented candles and air freshener.

If you just go through with Lysol before a showing, that won’t help. Instead, get rid of scent problems at the source: scrub the house, have the air vents cleaned, replace old, smelly carpeting and smoke outside.

4. Remember, the next buyer is as lazy as you are. If the property needs work — dated wallpaper, ratty carpet — have it replaced now so that all buyers have to picture is moving day. The more changes buyers calculate they’ll have to make in the home, the more concerned they get.

5. Do the baby test. Does your potential market include families with young kids? If so, ask yourself, "Would I put my child down on this floor to crawl around the room?". If not, you know what you have to fix. Likewise, if your walls sport grimy smudges or handprints, it might be worth it to paint.

6. Deep-six the cigarettes. Buyers are much more sensitive to cigarette smells.

Having a smoker in the house also eliminates a lot of potential buyers. Many shoppers won’t even want to tour a home if the owner is a smoker.

7. Make your home ageless. There’s a difference between an old house and a classic home. If the house looks 40 years old with 40-year-old paint, 40-year-old appliances and 40-year-old carpet, that’s a hard sell. Keep everything fresh and up-to-date (read well-maintained) and you have a solid home in an established neighborhood — a real looker.

8. Let there be light. People buy space and light, for the most part.

One seller who really understood staging was marketing her home during a spate of bleak weather. Before a showing, she threw a couple of beach towels over the rail of the deck, put up the sun umbrella and set out a pitcher of lemonade and some glasses.

9. Get a home inspection. Most buyers will have one done anyway. Do it now — and make any needed repairs before you put the home on the market. Depending on where you live, the service will probably run about $200 to $400, she says, and your real estate professional can recommend several good inspectors.

10. Learn to love white walls. When it comes to walls, color is popular. The problem is that the next buyer might not like the same colors. Paint is a relatively inexpensive way to make a house look clean and fresh. And if you’re going to repaint prior to selling, stick with neutrals. And remember that white reflects the light best and makes rooms look their largest.

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By Dana Dratch

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 5:29 am and is filed under FSBO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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