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Preparing the Home for Sale
 
Preparing your home for sale may be the best money you spend this year! It does not cost
much to place special touches on a home prior to sale and the returns can be significant.
Preparing a home for sale is the process of decorating your home for the buyers, not for
yourself. There are distinct differences between how you live in a home and how it must
be prepared for sale. A properly prepared home will show better than similarly situated
homes in the area, increasing the chance for a fast sale.
If your home is currently on the market, appropriately priced, but not generating interest,
or if you are thinking of selling your home in the future, there is a good chance this guide
can make the difference.
So let’s get started! This guide is constructed with three distinct types of home owners in
mind:
1. Those who are planning on selling their home in the distant future – say six
months or more
2. Home owners who are preparing their homes to be listed within one or two
months
3. Sellers just weeks away from listing their homes or with homes currently on the
market
Along the way, we will discuss different areas of buyer interest and opportunities to make
your home more desirable to the largest number of home buyers. You are encouraged to
read all the sections and recommendations. The recommendations certainly carry over
from one category to the other.
Now, let’s get your home ready!
 
 
Six months before listing your home…
If you have decided to sell your home and have six months or more, you need an action
plan. Many would determine that because they have time, they do not need to start right
away. Our advice to you is to start immediately and do a little every week to prepare for
your sale. After all, this will be one of the biggest financial transactions of your life.
Small things now may generate significant returns later.
 
Curb Appeal: Curb appeal is a potential buyer’s first impression when they drive up to
your home. The curb appeal of the home can say one of two things, “Come on in, you
will like what you see,” or “Hey, I may need a little work.” We definitely want the
former.
Start your project by taming any unruly
trees or shrubs. If you have overgrown
plants or trees, they will block buyer’s view
of your home. There is an old adage in real
estate, “If you can’t see it, you can’t sell it.”
With months to go, prune or remove plants
that are blocking the view of your home
from the street. Pruning or removing plants
now provides ample opportunity for the
pruned plants to recover and new plantings
to settle into the landscape.
Add plantings to the front of the home to
build focus on your front door if you have a
centered entrance, or to balance your home
if the entrance is on the side. You do not
have time to wait for the plants to mature, so
buy mature plants and plant them as close
together as practical. Tiered plantings (lower
to higher) create a dramatic effect as they
draw the eye up the lawn and onto the
house. Seed the lawn and water liberally.
Nothing shows off a home like a lush green
lawn.
 
Walk all the way around your home and look for faulty lumber and chipping or peeling
paint. Keep an eye out for lose gutters or downspouts. Inspect your deck, patio or any
other exterior structure for signs of weathering. Now is the time to spruce up the exterior!
 
Inside the Home: The first priority is to finish any lingering projects. Don’t start any
new construction projects if you are the type that takes a while to complete them. The one
exception here is if you know there is something that might block the sale of your home,
like a basement moisture issue or leaky faucets – get those done. This is not the time to
learn new skills, so bring in professionals if necessary.
 
Buyers today want lots of light in their home. Look at your window treatments. Do they
block most of the light? Have they been up for more than 10 years? You may want to
replace them. Don’t go for anything elaborate. Simple and neutral is the order of the day.
Inexpensive treatments are widely available. Make sure they allow maximum light into
the home.
 
Now let’s consider paint and wall coverings. A fresh coat of paint is one of the least
expensive ways to improve the marketability of your home. The biggest mistake home
owners make when they are preparing their home is to put on a fresh coat of whatever
was currently there. Maybe the paint color is fine, but you need to objectively ask
yourself: is the paint on the wall what 90% of potential buyers would like? Or, did we
select this color because it really felt like the right personal decision? It is really hard to
be objective on this, as paint is not only very personal, but it grows on you over time and
blends into the background. Take a look at some home design magazines – try to find
your colors in the photos. If you can’t, better find a new color.
 
Wallpaper will almost certainly need to be removed or painted over. Wallpaper is
always a very personal decision and it is highly unlikely, no matter how nice, that
someone else will have the exact same taste as you. Get rid of it. Many types of
wallpaper made recently can accept paint, but the surface needs proper preparation first,
so please consult a professional.
 
Summary: With several months before you list your home, you have plenty of time to
tackle the bigger tasks, such as painting, repairing the inside and pruning and planting on
the outside.
 
Two months before listing your home…
Two months away from listing your home for sale…What to do? What to do? First, relax.
You have time, but we definitely want to pick up the pace of activity. We suggest doing
something small EVERY day. If you miss a day, don’t sweat it, but you need consistent
activity at this stage to maximize your home’s market potential.
 
Maximize your curb appeal by lightly pruning shrubs. Don’t get too aggressive here; an
overgrown bush looks better than one that has been pruned to within an inch of its life.
Removing the worst offenders and replacing them with smaller plantings can take as little
as a day, and will be well worth the effort. Put down fresh mulch and plant some flowers
that will retain their blooms for the next several months. Even in the colder months, you
can plant winter pansies.
 
If you have not read the section on paint and wallpaper in the Six Month Plan above,
please do so. This is still your first priority inside.
 
After the appearance of the
walls, your next priority
should be to de-personalize
your home. This may be the
most difficult part of the
home preparation process. It
is time to put your emotional
attachment to your treasures
aside and start packing for
your move. Box all or your
collections, remove family
photos from tables and
walls. Clear your refrigerator
of all decorative magnets,
etc. Look around each room. For every visible item, ask yourself, “Would a model home
have this?” If the answer is “No,” it needs to go.
 
We go through the same process with what we call “clutter”. Clutter is loosely defined
as objects that distract buyers from focusing their attention on your home. Clutter might
be overstuffed bookshelves, pantries that are full of goodies, garages that can no longer
accommodate cars, even closets that could not accommodate another article of clothing,
etc. Once again, view this as a start to packing for your move, so de-cluttering is a very
positive step in your preparation!
 
By the time that you have de-personalized and de-cluttered, you will probably have a lot
of stuff that needs to be stored, sold, or given away. For storage, consider having a
portable storage unit delivered to your home. That way, as you pack a box, you can walk
it right into the unit. The unit can usually be delivered right to your new home for easy
unpacking.
 
Holding a yard sale is always a great way to get rid of your excess possessions, but please
keep the big picture in mind. If a yard sale will take one weekend to plan, and another to
execute, our opinion is that you would be better off giving your things away and taking
the tax write-off. The few hundred dollars you MAY produce from a yard sale may cost
you a few thousand dollars if the time could have been spent on additional home
preparation activities.
 
While you are packing up your personal effects, consider how much stepping around
furniture you are doing. If you constantly have to watch your step as you are moving
around the house, you may have too much furniture. Excess furniture in a room will
make the room appear smaller.
 
Find another location in your home for excess pieces of furniture. Maybe you can store
some of your older furniture and move some of the nicer pieces throughout the home.
 
Summary: With two months to go before your listing date, curb appeal and walls are still
the number one priorities. After that, start to pack for your move. Box up all of your
personal effects, collections and clutter and put it into storage outside of your home.
 
My home is just about to go, or already is, on the market…
 
Congratulations! You are on your way to selling your home. Even if your home is already
on the market, it is not too late to prepare your home for its next visitors! At this stage of
the game, we focus on cleanliness and presentation, and then we work backwards into the
two month and six month strategies.
 
Start with the all important curb appeal. Keep the grass watered and mowed. Mow
twice a week during the fast growing season – we want buyers to think country club! Add
some potted plants near the door for color and to make the front entrance more inviting.
Be sure to have a new mat at the front door. If buyers see an old and worn mat at the
door, what is that telling them about the interior? Also, a new mat will help to keep dirt
from entering your house, which will help in keeping it clean.
Your first order of business inside the house is cleanliness. Your home needs to look like
no one has ever lived there. This is especially true for the kitchen and bathrooms.
Nothing personal here, but if your home is not clean, it will not sell. Nothing will turn off
a buyer faster than dirt. It raises all sorts of questions as to how well the home was
maintained and whether the buyer will ever be able to get the images of the sink full of
breakfast dishes or the mold in the shower out of their heads…buyers will move on to a
home that leaves them with pleasant thoughts.
 
Make sure that all personal care items are put away in the bathrooms. A
countertop full of makeup and deodorant or hair gel prevents the buyer from imagining
this very personal space as their own. The counters must be IMMACULATE – I mean
nothing on them at all! Make sure clean towels are neatly folded on the rods.
Make beds and put away laundry every day. Again, we are going for the “no one lives
here” image. Buyers need to imagine them living there, not try to imagine what you are
like. While we are on the topic of bedrooms, if necessary, upgrade your bedding in the
master bedroom. Inexpensive bed sets are readily available; try to keep the colors neutral
and avoid busy patterns. The master bedroom should be an oasis of rest and relaxation, so
get rid of the exercise equipment, work things and the TV.
If painting is necessary, you are better
off doing it and doing it quickly. Hire
some painters – make sure they will
show up with a team and can paint an
entire home in a few days. The benefit of
the new paint will probably be worth
turning away the few potential buyers
who might show up during the project.
After you have cleaned and are making
your everyday existence invisible to
potential buyers, start working backwards on the plans above. Start with the Two Month
plan and improve your curb appeal, then move inside and de-clutter and de-personalize.
 
 
Summary: If you are just about to list your home, or if your home is already on the
market, it is not too late to improve its sale potential. Increase your curb appeal on the
exterior, then move inside. Start with cleanliness, remove all personal hygiene and
cosmetic products and make your master bedroom an oasis with plush bedding. These
improvements take just a few days and will dramatically improve the impression your
home will make on potential buyers.
 
J. Graeme MacHorton
Long & Foster, Realtor
BlackBerry: 703 283-3205 g.machorton@lnf.com or g.machorton@longandfoster.com