A Well Dressed Home Sells Quicker!
Selling your home in today's Bellingham real estate market would be enhanced if your home shines above your competition to begin with. With so many homes on the market currently in Bellingham, home owners should really make sure their home shows well before buyers in this market see it for the first time.
I remember reading a book many years ago called "Dress for Success". Those words hold true for a home as much as they do for your personal appearance in business, life and first impressions.
I've always believed in staging a home before it goes on the market, but in today's buyers market it is very important to prepare your home for the sale. Home owners can hire a professional home stager or they can also do it themselves.
If your going to do it yourself...I think one should start from the outside. Take a bunch of photos from the street and then work your way around the home. Once you complete that, take a bunch more of the inside and then you'll have your before and once completed, your after photos as well.
The most important area to work on, is the street appeal. Spend some time with the lawn and landscaping to get it in the best shape possible. If your house needs some touch up on the painting, grab your paint and brushes and do those touch ups. What ever it is that needs to be done, spend the time and complete those projects...it will pay dividends in the end. I think most of these things can be done by the homeowner. If you have to hire a professional, prioritize the work and concentrate on the items that will bring you the highest return.
The next most important area would be the room buyers first enter when they come inside your home. Dress this room up and make it warm and inviting to potential home buyers. Study some Feng Shui home ideas on line to assist you as well.
Some of the things you might want to do on the interior of your Bellingham home might include the following:
Clear any and all clutter from each room. Buyers need to imagine what your home will be like once they buy it, but its very difficult to imagine that if the home is full of clutter. For instance...in the kitchen, take all that stuff off the refrigerator and clear off the counters to the bare necessities. Maybe add instead a nice flower arrangement, candles, etc.
If a room needs repainting, I would go ahead and do it. It's so inexpensive for a home owner to repaint a couple rooms and the return is usually pretty good. Try to stay to the neutral colors to market to higher percentage of the buyers.
Either higher a professional
carpet cleaning service or go rent a machine from your nearby Equipment Rental company. I've had good luck with Service Master locally. For Rental company's try
Master Rentals,
Hardware Sales Rental dept. and
Bay City Supply.
Check for odors in your house. If you smoke in your home, have a cat box or any other possible odors, I would definitely remedy this situation. These are tough things to talk to a typical seller about...but they need to be addressed right away. Have a friend, neighbor, or your Realtor come into your home and see what they can detect. If they can smell the odor...trust me buyers will to and try to find the exit door as fast as they can.
After you've cleared the clutter and boxed up and stored unnecessary items, It's time to do the final staging of whats left and possibly even bring in some items to finish. If your going to put your home on the market, your eventually going to have to remove everything and box things up. I'm not suggesting removing everything...just box up whats not necessary and store it in the garage or even a small storage unit. Once you've done that...stage whats left so it's warm, cozy and comfortable. You want buyers to feel like they want to sit on your furniture or at the kitchen table and be comfortable. Make your home inviting so they will write you an offer and your Realtor can put a SOLD sign in your yard.
Well good luck on preparing your home for sale and remember I'm also a full time Realtor here in the Bellingham WA real estate market and work the entire Whatcom County area. Feel free to call me anytime for some advice on buying or selling real estate or if your interviewing Realtors currently. Good luck, hope some of this advice helps.