Pinetop White Mountain Blog

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Did you ever wonder if your Listing could talk, what it would tell you?  For starters it would tell you to Price Me Right!  To Price correctly you must know your house, know your neighborhood, and find a Real Estate Professional who knows your market.

The first thing your house would tell you is to clean up the yard.  Clean up all the needles and brush, rake any leaves, pull weeds, mow the lawn or rake the gravel.  Whatever you need to do to make that front year look neat and tidy can only help your sale.  Remember, this is the first things your buyer is going to see when they pull up in front of your house.  The yard needs to be warm and welcoming and not cluttered with debris, children's toys, or show any signs of neglect.  Curb appeal is the single strongest factor in selling a house.  First impressions count!  

Okay, we are past the yard, what next?  It's the front door.  Yes, I said the front door.  That is the second thing they see.  Does it need painting?  Is it dirty or scratched up?  Is the paint around it peeling, is the finish showing signs of weathering?  How about the Door knob or the Dead bolt?  Are they scratched up, showing wear, or perhaps don't work right?  You might as well fix or replace them now because new door fixtures can really give a nice first impression.  A pristine front door may actually distract that buyer from noticing that the rest of the house could use a coat of paint. 

Now we are inside, what next? There are many things to do when you are getting ready to sell a house, but perhaps the most important thing inside is cleaning and de-cluttering.  By clean I don't mean just scrubbing floors, washing windows, and shampooing the carpets, although those things will really make a house show well, I'm talking about cleaning you out of the house.  I know that sounds strange, but what I am getting at is that you need to depersonalize the space so Buyers can see the house as their own.  

You should take down all the family pictures, put away your personal memorabilia, and think like an interior decorator.  Less is more when you are selling a house.  Your objective is to present the house in such a way that it feels warm and welcoming while allowing your potential buyers to see the house as their own.  They need to ba able to picture their family portraits on the walls and their personal things in the space.  Depersonalizing the space allows the buyers an opportunity to see the house, not your things. 

I can't tell you how many times I have been in a house with potential buyers and they spent the whole time they were in the house looking at the family photos, the decor and the family's personal things.  After they leave the house they can't even remember the floor plan or how the house looked because they were so caught up in studying the sellers personal property.  That kind of activity does not sell your house.  You want the buyers to look at the house, your personal property should not even figure in to the viewing. 

Does that mean the buyers are nosy, probably, who doesn't like to look around at things when they are in a new place?  It doesn't mean they are disrespectful, only curious.  They get caught up in seeing the seller's life, not looking at the house. 

One more thing, Pets and Pet smells! While we all love our critters and see them as part of our family, many buyers are not Pet people.  If they see or smell a critter, it's all over.  They won't even look any further at that house.  So if possible, take the critters out of the house when it is being shown, remove all evidence of pets like pet dishes and kitty boxes, clean up any pet waste in the back yard, and hopefully remove any evidence that they are there. Don't get me wrong, I love critters and I wouldn't be without them.  But, in selling a house the last thing you want is to have your sale killed because the Buyer doesn't like animals.  I've had many a house rejected out of hand because the resident pussy cat was sleeping on the bed. You just never know how those potential buyers are going to react.

So there you have it.  A brief synopsis of what your house would tell you if it could talk.  Selling a house is not easy.  It is a lot of work and it is a pain to keep it show ready at all times.  That however, is what it takes to sell a house.  Neat, Clean, Tidy, & stark, are the best ways to describe the process.  Buyers need to see your house as their house and if they do, they will make an offer and you have your sale.

Thanks for reading, until next time.....

Sandra Paulow, Associate Broker, GRI, SFR, REALTOR® (928) 242-0300

From Contract to Closing, I'm Your High Country Connection for Real Estate.