Having served the Scottsdale area, including Ancala, for 18 years we know what it takes to get your home ready for sale. In this article I will share my 7 most important steps.
Homeowner Question: “Can you let us know what we should do to get our home ready for the market?”
This is music to a real estate agent’s ears, especially if the client actually does the things we recommend to them!
Answer: The seven ideas below are the most common recommendations and a great place to start.
Get your home ready to sell with a fresh coat of paint.
1) Painting - One of the least expensive things you can do to your home that gives you the biggest “bang for your buck” is a fresh coat of paint – inside, outside or both. Nothing can freshen up a home better and give the sense that the home is well maintained.
2) “Spring Cleaning” – by this I mean a deep clean, much more in depth than you or your housecleaners would do for a regular “maintenance” cleaning. A spring cleaning should include: wiping down all baseboards and interior doors, dusting ceiling fans and difficult to reach pot shelves and high bookshelves or closet shelves, dusting/polishing chandelier light bulbs, washing windows and cleaning debris out of window tracks, dusting of blinds and shutters, drycleaning fabric window coverings and steaming carpets.
3) Declutter - before tackling a spring cleaning, be sure to take some time to “dejunk” the extra clutter that has accumulated in your home. This includes thinning out the contents of closets (a decluttered and organized closet actually looks bigger than a cluttered and disorganized one), removing all but the most essential items from countertops, and perhaps the most overlooked item – dejunking the garage. You may want to rent a storage unit temporarily to store extra items that you can’t part with.
4) Don't forget the yard! - Take a look at your landscaping and trim plants, trees and bushes if needed, and add plants where needed. Make sure your landscape lights are working and replace any burnt out bulbs. Clean and maintain any water features so that they are in working order.
Home Inspector
5) Professional Inspection - It’s also not a bad idea to get a home inspection prior to putting your home on the market. Use the inspector’s report as a punch list for any repairs that are necessary. While the inspector you hire may not find the exact same deficiencies that your future buyers’ inspector will find, he or she will likely notice many of the same things. Some of the “deficiencies” may be a surprise to you. This may be an opportunity for you to rectify in advance an issue that might otherwise be a “deal killer” for your future buyer.
6) HVAC and Roof Systems - If you don’t want to pay for a home inspection, I highly recommend having your HVAC system serviced and your roof inspected at the very least. Roof and HVAC repairs are generally the most expensive repairs found in an inspection, so why not take these issues completely off the table?
7) Look at your home with fresh eyes -- take an objective walk around the inside and outside of your home and try to imagine that you are looking at it for the first time. Sometimes we are so used to seeing the cracks in the patio tile, that we don’t even notice them anymore – those may stick out like a sore thumb to the buyer. (Hopefully the home inspector pointed them out!) There may be some “cosmetic” things you can do to put the final staging touches on your home.
Every real estate agent loves to sell a home that is in top condition. But it’s the seller who really benefits – investing time in getting your home ready to sell will maximize your home’s value and will generally cause it to sell faster. If you are thinking of selling your Scottsdale area home and would like more ideas on getting your home ready to sell, call The Matheson Team today at 480-351-5359 or fill out our contact form below.
CONTACT US for more information on buying or selling a home in Scottsdale.
