Deciding to sell your home is only the beginning of the process, you have alot of work ahead of you. Before you list your home you need to make you home desirable to the public, this means you really have to remove you personality from the house and allow potential buyers to place themselves in the rooms.
I recommend that seller's follow the three C's of home sales.
1. CLUTTER - Remove any clutter around the home. This does not only mean get rid of the trash but remove you personal items from counters and walls. Basically, start packing, anything that is important to you pack away. Pictures, books, small statues, childrens hand made gifts are what make your house your home. Buyers need to see a house as their home and that is difficult when they are looking at pictures of your children. The things you keep on your kitchen and bathroom counters may make your life more convient, but they reduce the visable counter space which is very important to a buyer. Putting these things away not only makes the rooms seem larger it also reduces the possabiltiy of items important in your life being broken or lose.
2. CLEAN - I know your house is clean, you wash the floors, dust the furniture and vacuum the rugs. When I say clean, I mean deep, hands and knees, scrub brush cleaning. When you take your personal pictures off the walls there may be light marks on the walls. Paint is cheap and a quick coat of neutral color paint makes a room seem bigger and brighter. Clean the windows and it dosen't take much to change the mini blinds on all your windows. Make sure all your light fixtures have new bright bulbs. Removing one piece of furniture from a room can make the room much bigger. Check the pathways around your house. Three recliners lined up in the family room may make for easy football watching but re-positioning those chairs may free up room for more open floor space.
3. CURB APPEAL - The first impression of your home is not from the inside, as soon as a buyer drives up to the front of your house decision making begins. Make sure your front entry way is inviting, if its February remove the Christmas decorations. Check the window treatments on your front windows. Red livingroom curtains and purple dining room curtains may go with the interior decor of the rooms but they are not very appealing from the exterior. Rake your leaves, shovel your snow or mow you lawn, whatever the season calls for. You don't want to remind the buyer of all the outside work homeownership requires, they already know, but if it isn't done they start to think it is an overwhelming task.
Remember, you don't want a buyer to think that an unpainted wall or and unraked yard is a good reason to make a low offer. A home presented in it's best possible light will sell for the best possible price.
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