TIPS FOR SELLING YOUR HOME
MARCH 17, 2019
This blog post may seem completely out of left field, given most of my blog’s content is fashion oriented with the odd mommy post, essential list or recipe thrown in. However, I started this blog as a lifestyle blog and all of my blog posts are created from my own personal life experiences. This post is no exception and if you haven’t guessed it already we sold our home! By the time you read this post we’ve probably already moved out of it.
Now I’m not naive in thinking everyone has a “dream” selling experience, but ours was pretty easy peasy. We actually sold once conditionally in the first week and then sold firm in the second week our house was on the market! We also got way more then we anticipated, in a market that isn’t really favourable for the seller. This experience basically means I’m an expert on how to sell your home fast and I’ve decided to be ever so gracious and share some tips on how to be just like me*.
*If you’re just stumbling upon my blog for the very first time, please know I am 100% sarcastic pretty much all the time and I never take myself to seriously. Except when posing for the gram. That posing shit is serious and you should never not take it seriously.
With out further ado, below are my top tips for helping you sell your home faster!
Declutter & Keep Clean
I suppose I could have milked this and made it two separate tips, but really they’re the most obvious so let’s just lump em’ together and get em’ out of the way! They are also kind of the same thing, when you really think about it. Decluttering those kitchen and bathroom counters gives the illusion that your countertop space is larger. If you’ve got a ton of stuff all over your counters and can barely see the counter space it’s giving off the impression your cupboard space is too small for storage. Decluttering goes further then just countertops, declutter bedroom spaces, living rooms etc. Maybe you love that old lazy boy in the living room, but by removing it you’re going to make your living room feel larger and more appealing to a potential buyer.
Keeping your house spick and span is the most obvious tip. Vacuum and dust often. Keep bathrooms clean, nothing is more of a turn off for buying a home then a dirty bathroom. *gag* Don’t leave food stains on your stovetop or counters, basically treat your house like it’s not your own and you’re a guest somewhere! Or you’re hosting family everyday for dinner!
Hide Personal Effects
Maybe your flamingo spoon holder on your stovetop is your jam, speaking from experience here, but it could distract a potential buyer and surprisingly turn them off. Seriously, hide stuff that is personal to you and your own style so to speak. We put our toothbrushes in the cupboards under our sink, hid the babe’s bath toys, stuffed her bottle drying rack in a kitchen cabinet, removed all the pictures and travel magnets off our fridge, hid the cookbooks that sit on top of our microwave etc. People want a blank canvas when they are looking at a home. They want to envision their things in that home and how to make it their own.
Vacate The Home
I mean you can be there while people are coming to view the home, but talk about awwwwwwk-ward. In my opinion being in the house while someone is viewing it will make people feel like they need to view the home faster, therefore not getting the full viewing experience which could cause you to lose a potential buyer. I can hear you now, but Meg that’s too hard to not be home during hours people want to view. If I can do it with a 16 month old and two dogs you can figure it out. I ended up staying at my parents off and on for the entire process. Yeah it was inconvenient but, in the end it was easier then trying to wrangle her to bed at weird hours and I like to think it helped us get that home sold faster!
Hide All Signs of Animals Living in the Home, Especially Dogs!
For some weird reason a lot of people in this word don’t like dogs. They’re probably insane. For the record the people who bought our house love dogs. We met them at the final inspection and they were obsessed with our puppers. Makes me feel better knowing non-insane people bought our house. Anyhow, if you have a dog, hide all signs it lives there and when you vacate the home vacate the animal with you. Cats are a little harder to hide away, but for some reason people are cool with cats? However if the cat is litter trained ensure that litter box is cleaned everyday before you leave for work in case of viewings. The last thing you want is a stinky super gross cat litter on display.
Create An Additional Bedroom
This tip is kind of dependent on the city you live in. In our city this is a huge draw for potential buyers. My husband fully finished our basement with a full extra bathroom. He uses the basement as his man cave, but our realtor suggested we stage the basement as a fourth bedroom. If your city has the market for this type of feature definitely look into staging a basement or extra space area as an additional bedroom.
Open Up those Blinds and Curtains
If you normally leave blinds or curtains closed, because you know – city living where your neighbour can be eating dinner and looking at you while you watch television – open those babies up when you have viewings or open houses. As any influencer knows, natural lighting is always best! It makes the home appear brighter and more open, if you keep them closed you have potential buyers wandering around in the dark and not really seeing how nice the home is. Plus darkness just gives the house a gloomy vibe.
Don’t Cook Stinky Food
Seriously. The last thing you want is people coming for an open house or viewing and your house smells like fish. My suggestion, bake some cookies prior to an open house, or if you’re baking challenged get yourself a cookie smelling candle. No one can resist the sweet smell of baked goods!
There ya have it folks, my top 7 tips for getting that home sold faster. Ok, so I know my tips are wicked awesome but I can’t take the full credit of selling my home so fast. Like 20% of it goes to our super awesome realtor. Again, sarcasm. Our relator was out of this world, I literally have no idea when he sleeps. If you are in the GTA and looking to sell, or perhaps buy your first home, hit up Dwayne Linton. If you need more convincing, short story time. My in-laws put their house on the market prior to us, with another realtor. They didn’t even get one offer with that realtor in like 4 months of being on the market. They took it off the market when the contract with that realtor expired, and hired Dwayne on our recommendation after selling our house. He got their house sold in probably just over two weeks and it sold for over the price listed. My tips just help him, or whomever your realtor, get the job done faster!
Now that we’ve got that boring stuff out of the way, let’s hear all the horrible selling or buying a house stories? *sips tea*
