There is a lot to do when you declutter and prepare your home for sale. So I have broken the tasks you need to declutter and organise down into 4 manageable parts (1) the outside, (2), the inside declutter (3) furniture placement, and (4) on the day.
A little bit of planning, organising and decluttering your home for sale can have a big impact on the bottom line. Remember, you only have one chance to make a first impression when people come to view your home so you want it to be the right one. Plus, as you know house hunters will often do a “drive by” of properties before they attend open for inspections, so first impressions counts.
Declutter and prepare your home for sale – Start with the outside
Preparing your house for sale
Image credit: http://www.realestate.com.au/
Prepare a maintenance and declutter list and write down everything that needs to be done in the front garden. Do you need to address any of the following:?
- Gardening – either a tidy up or removing and replanting
- Lawn mowing
- Roll up any hoses and place tools out of site
- Painting including the front fence, house and front door
- Fix up or replace the mail box
- Fix the front fence/gate
- Wash down the outside of the house
- Wash the windows
- Wipe down or paint any outdoor furniture
- Place some pot plants around the garden/patio/front entrance (my tip is to plant full-size, bright annuals that will provide immediate colour)
- Replace the front door knocker, knob or other hardware if it looks worn out
- Clean up any clutter, debris, toys and gardening gear from the side of the house (remember people will poke around everywhere so there is no hiding anything).
- Purchase a new door mat.
How’s the view
- Take the time to think about the best attributes of your garden by standing inside your home and seeing what buyers will see when they are standing inside your house. What do you see from the window above the kitchen sink or the biggest window in your living room?
- Do you need to think about creating an outside focal point to draw buyers’ attention to the landscaping? For example, by planting bright flowers in the garden will help draw the eye of outside. Or, if the view is not that great, do you need to consider putting up a screen, hedging or plants?
- Are bushes overgrown and blocking out light from coming into the home?
Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression, so you want it to be the right one. Writing down your maintenance and declutter requirements helps you to get organised and stay organised when you are decluttering and preparing your home for sale.
Also, you will then identify that some tasks will need to be done before others, so a little bit of pre planning will save you time and ensure everything will happen when it’s meant to. For example, you will want to paint before you wash the windows.
It’s also worth considering that in the spring time, you might need to book a more regular gardening service or make sure the lawns are mowed more often.
If you find that the process to declutter and prepare your home for sale is too hard or overwhelming then contact The Lifestylers Group. We can help declutter and get your home ready for sale. Click here to contact us.
