Preparing to Sell your Home

• Some of the best buyers are the most impatient because they have to make a decision fast. If the view of your house from the street turns them off, they may not even stop. Shape up the front yard!
  
  
• Take a critical look at your house's front side. If it's weathered looking, or if anything that needs repair can be seen, eliminate these problems. Don't turn your buyers off before the inside can turn them on.
  
  
• Never stay in your house with house hunters. Let the agent handle it, and remove yourself if you possibly can. Remember, the agent has worked many hours with these people, and knows what they're looking for, and how to work with them. Let him or her do the job without interference.
  
  
• Give your dogs and cats a vacation. They need it. So does your pocketbook. Having pets (especially aggressive dogs) around when you're selling your home can be incredibly distracting. Many people are acutely uncomfortable around some animals, and simply can't think "buy" when their minds are on "bye".
  
  
• You can't find a better investment when you're selling a house than some putty and a few cans of paint and brighten up its interior.
  
  
• Drips do worse than run up your water bill. They make possible buyers worry about the entire plumbing system of your house. Fix these little problems before they cost you a sale.
  
  
• Squeaking doors and creaking floors. Torn or missing screens, cracked glass, and anything in need of repair dampens the house hunters' enthusiasm. Many of them believe there'll always be ten problems they haven't noticed for every one they do see.
  
  
• Hide (or neatly arrange) everything that looks like work. Lawnmowers, hoses, vacuum cleaners, all the gear you used to fix up the house.
  
  
• De-clutter. Repack compactly, dispose of unneeded items, or rent a mini storage room and move out as much material as you can. Your home's storage space can't look adequate to a buyer if you've got it jampacked!
  You can sell pride of ownership faster and for more money. It's called cleanliness, and cleanliness has more buyers than used dirt. Put sparkle into your bathrooms and kitchen!
  

Campus Realty Group, Inc.   Your University Town Realtors
821 NW 13th Street, Gainesville, Florida, 32601 | (352) 336-3900  |  toll free: (888) 860-1319 |  manny@campusrealty.org