WHY SELL WITH OUR TEAM?
Our team has extensive experience in Washington D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, and the knowledge to market your property so it will get maximum exposure to searching buyers. We follow the small and large trends of the local real estate landscape, which we use to provide our clients with the relevant information they need to sell their home.
We design a marketing strategy for each property we list for sale. We use current technology as well as our network of agents and buyers to connect our clients’ listed properties with the right real estate buyers.
ESSENTIALS OF GETTING YOUR HOME READY FOR SALE
As every seller in the world, your goal is to sell your home as soon as possible and for top dollar. To achieve this goal, you will need to follow certain essential preparations to make your property desirable. If you neglect even some of these things, it is entirely possible that your house could stay in the market for a long time and you may not achieve the top price you wanted. Houses that stay in the market for a long time also become stale and become increasingly difficult to sell.
Ten essential tips to prepare your home for sale and draw the interest of potential buyers.
- Curb appeal. The view of the house from the street makes the first impression in buyers, so make sure it is a good one. You need to weed, mulch and mow the lawn (at least once a week during the growing season). Remove any ancient, deformed and overgrown bushes, add some flowers and fresh plants in order to spruce up the curb appeal.
- Declutter and clean the entire house. Think of what you expect when you first go in to a hotel room. Mop, dust, vacuum, wash windows, etc. Buyers will look everywhere, so your cleaning and decluttering should include your closets, cabinets, under your sinks, etc. Check out for odors too, especially pet odors. If carpets still look new, have them professionally cleaned. Otherwise replace them.
- Depersonalize. Clutter is bad enough, but you should also pay attention to depersonalizing your home. A couple of family pictures of your family is not going to spook anybody but framed family photographs everywhere, your collection of exotic shrunk heads from the Amazon, or your collection of hunting trophies in the basement have got to go. Just put everything in storage until you sell the house. Buyers need to see your home, not your stuff. Make it easier for buyers to imagine themselves in the house without your personal collections and belongings in the way.
- Furniture. Consider removing or replacing worn or outdated furniture or removing pieces from rooms that are clogged up with too much furniture. Dated furniture can be a problem, giving a space a dated feeling that will detract some buyers from imagining themselves in that space. Bedrooms, family rooms, living rooms with too much furniture will look smaller than they are. If your furniture problem is serious, consider consulting with a professional staging company for direction and advice on creating an inviting home with broad appeal to a wide range of buyers. We can recommend one for you.
- Colors and paint. If your home has not been painted for a while or if the colors are too personal, painting is the best bang for your buck that will quickly freshen up a dull, dated room. Choose neutral colors on living spaces and bathrooms that will appeal to most buyers.
- Repairs. Repair EVERYTHING. Squeaky doors, chipped paint, broken fixtures, leaky faucets, cracked glass panes in windows or doors, windows that appear foggy (where the seal in the double glass is compromised), storm doors that don’t close, lights which don’t work. Pay special attention to the front door; it’s the first thing the buyers see. If you are in doubt on the general condition of your home, consider hiring a home inspector to do a an inspection to find (and later correct) all the problems the buyer’s home inspector will find.
- Floors. Floors are one of the items that will impress (negatively or positively) the buyers the most. I have already mentioned carpets. There are two kinds or carpets in real estate: new (or newer) carpets and carpets that need to be replaced. It’s your choice. The choice is similar with wood floors. If the wood floor in a high traffic area shows wear and tear, consider refinishing it. You don’t need to refinish the floors in the whole house.
- Light fixtures. If a light fixture is tacky and older than you, get it out of there. You can easily renew the look of a room, kitchen or bathroom by replacing old or dated light fixtures, door hardware, light switches and outlets.
- Photography. In this day and age, houses sell on the internet. People will choose your home by looking at the photographs online before they go and visit it in person. Do not plan on taking the photos yourself or letting the agent take the pictures. You need to hire a real estate professional photographer to take professional pictures of your home. They know how to use lighting and lenses to capture the best angles of a room and make it look at its best.
- Showing preparation. Finally, there were several things you can do before each showing to make the house look as good as possible! We will be happy to help you with this important item.