This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Selling Your Home? Tips for Getting 'Top Dollar'

It's a buyer's market! While that may be true, there are sellers out there that still need to sell.

The “word on the street” is… It’s a buyer’s market! While that may be true, for various reasons, there are sellers out there that still need to sell, and they shouldn’t have to give their houses away.

For example, it may be a job relocation, change in the family dynamics, or perhaps health related issues that require you to move — all are valid reasons why, even in this market, sellers need or want to sell. So if you are one of those sellers… right now would be a great time to start thinking about those home improvement projects that will help you to get "Top Dollar” when you are ready to put the For Sale sign in the ground. 

It is a highly competitive market, and sellers need to be smart about what they do and don’t do to get their home “show ready.” First, have your REALTOR do a Qualified Market Analysis (QMA) on your home to gauge how best to position your home on the market. It is important that you price your home at “market value” — to encourage as many “prospective buyers” to visit your home with the hopes of them making an offer. But it is not all about price — while very important, no doubt — condition is also a critical factor. Price your home well and make it show its best. This will help you sell your home faster and get “Top Dollar.”

Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Below are just a few tips to consider when getting your house ready for the market. While you need to invest a little money for these improvements, I think the return on your investment may help to lessen the pain.

CLEAN AND DE-CLUTTER: This is a great place to start!! Isn’t it amazing how much “stuff” we accumulate? As you start going through these things we are amazed and surprised about what we find. I am sure there are many items with which you can and have done without. If you haven’t used or it over the past two years, chances are, you probably won’t use it at all. What’s the sense of boxing them up and moving them to your next home? Reducing clutter makes your home look more spacious and helps buyers imagine their belongings fitting in easily.

Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Try to remove half of everything in each closet, leave tables, countertops and closet floors as empty as possible. Remove all family photos — you want buyers to envision themselves in the home. You don’t want them spending time looking at your family photos, you want them spending the time looking at your home and thinking how it will work for them! You want the home to look and feel spacious. If you have a lot of furniture, you might want to consider a storage unit to store away some of the extra furniture and/or perhaps rearrange the furniture throughout the home. That’s where home staging comes in…

When all has been sorted, the next thing you should do is clean, clean, clean! If necessary, it might be worth hiring a cleaning person to give it a good once-over, tackling those places that haven’t been cleaned in some time.

PAINT: Adding a fresh coat of paint to ceilings, walls and trim will certainly appeal to the potential buyer. When you choose colors, pick neutral tones. Remember, you are making these improvements to attract the buyer. Now is not the time to be creative — don’t choose colors such as lime green or candy apple red. This will only turn the prospective buyer off by making them think that the first thing they need to do when they move in is to spend time and money painting over the walls,  since it’s not quite their colors — go figure!

Painting hides a world of imperfections while brightening any room. It removes scuff marks and dings and gives every room a fresh, polished feel.

While now isn’t the time of year, consider giving the exterior of your home a fresh coat of paint if necessary. It speaks to first impressions, offering your home great curb appeal! If it needs it, do it! If it’s not in the budget, paint the accents like eaves, shutters, doors and trims. It is a quick, inexpensive way to polish the look of your home.

LANDSCAPING: First impressions matter — you want to stand out from all the others. Buyers will be more excited about looking at the inside your home if the outside looks clean and inviting. A new welcome mat and perhaps a wreath hung on your front door is a nice touch. Keep up with exterior maintenance depending on what the season calls for. 

FIX IT IF IT’S BROKEN: Repair anything that is broken or in poor condition. These items will only come up during a home inspection anyway, best to handle now so it is a non-issue when it comes to the home inspection. Make sure that the furnace, air conditioner, smoke detectors, garage door openers, ceiling fans and any appliances are in good working condition. Handling these things now will be more cost effective. It’s better than having the buyer give you a laundry list of items and expect a significant credit at closing to fix. 

HOME STAGING: Staging your home can make a dramatic difference in your market time and price for which your home will sell. Statistics show that you can take the exact same house, stage one and not the other, and the house that was staged will sell faster and for a higher price than the exact same house that was not staged. Hiring a professional stager puts you ahead of your competition. They have the right skills to highlight the positives of the home, while downplaying the negatives that the home may have. Ask us about what home staging programs we have available for our clients that will help them to get their house “show ready!”

Taking a little time now to put a plan in place to get your house “show ready” prior to you putting it on the market will only give you a better chance of positioning your home on the TOP of the prospective buyers list and receive TOP Dollar for all of your efforts. 

Your Key Real Estate Team ~ Laura & Laurie

Contact Laura Cruger @ 203-948-1103 or Laurie Levitt @ 203@-733-1393 Visit our website at www.crugerandlevitt.com. Email us at:  laura@crugerandlevitt.com or laurie@crugerandlevitt.com

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?