Ten House Tips for Selling a House

Preparation is all important for selling a house. Before you show your home to anyone, make sure it looks the best it can so that you can impress potential buyers. Here are 10 easy tips to prepare your house for selling.

1. Make sure the outside of your home has curb appeal - that it creates a good first impression.  The yard is seen before the house, as people drive by, so keep it clean and tidy at all times. Regularly cut the grass and trim the shrubs. Remove trash that sometimes blows in and remove any garden clutter. Take advice from a local landscaper on how to improve the appearance of all your outdoor areas.
   
   
2. If paint work looks tired and is chipped in places, repaint any of the problem areas.    Baseboards too can start looking shabby so give them a  fresh coat of paint as well.
   
   
3. Keep all the windows clean. If there was ever a reason to regularly clean the windows this it. Buyers will notice if they are dirty. If the upper floor windows are difficult to clean, uses a pressure washer.
   
   
4. Clean the siding.  Siding tends to be more durable than paint particularly on newer homes, but does get dirty, so clean the siding.  Pressure washing removes dirt and grime from exterior surfaces quite effectively, and can be used to clean other areas outside as well, such as the garage and driveway.
   
   
5. Carpets can look dowdy after a while, so give them a new lease of life by deep cleaning them. It would be preferable to clean them in all the rooms.
   
   
6. Try to farm out the pets for a while so that you can eliminate pet odor and remove pet dander from carpets. Homes with pets can be harder to sell and you need to make sure that walls and carpets are well cleaned. Once cleaned, restrict pets to non-carpeted ares of your home, or better still keep them in pet carriers indoors.
   
   
7. If your home contains a lot of clutter that can be disposed of, have a yard sale. Anything you don't sell take to a charity shop or the garbage dump.
   
   
8. Any broken light fittings should be replaced, as should light bulbs. It's ok for the family to put up with a defective light for a while but visitors need to see everything working properly. Clean light switches as well.
   
   
9. Make sure all your appliances are in working order, and that the wiring and plugs are tidy. Refer to the warranties so that you know if any are expiring sometime soon.
   
   
10. Clean your home several days in advance of potential buyers arriving to view your home. Keep the rooms well aired and pleasantly, but mildly, scented, but don't overdo it. You don’t want the place to smell of pets or children, but buyers shouldn’t be put off by other overbearing smells like cleaning chemicals, or heavy  fragrances.

There is a lot of work associated with selling a home. By following these basic tips you can ensure that would-be buyers are not distracted from giving serious consideration to making an offer to buy.