Here’s our advice for selling for top dollar.

If you want to maximize the value of your home when selling, here are the top five points to remember:

“When prospective buyers are walking through your property or viewing it online, you only have a certain amount of time to capture their attention.”

1. Curb appeal. Curb appeal is the very first impression buyers have of your property. It’s not just a suburban thing; it’s also a city thing. If a potential buyer walks up to your condo but the lock on the front gate isn’t working, or the landscaping is somewhat messy, or the lights leading up to the unit aren’t working, or the staircase is littered with trash, leaves, etc., those are red flags that the buyer will use to judge your property before they even step foot in it. Make sure these things are taken care of prior to listing your home. 

2. Decluttering. Decluttering means moving items out of the way for pictures and showings. When prospective buyers are walking through your property or viewing it online, you only have a certain amount of time to capture their attention. You don’t want to have toys lying around, pictures crowding the walls, food on the counter, or anything like that. Decluttering is important in making your home look as much like a model home as possible. 

3. Flooring and painting. When potential buyers walk through your home, they’ll inspect the floors and paint job. If there are any scratches on your wood floor, get it stained if you have to. If your house is carpeted but the carpet is in bad shape, try switching it out. The whole point of this is to make your flooring or carpet look new. If you need to repaint, stick with neutral colors. Whether you like them or not is beside the point—it’s important to stay in tune with what most people like in 2021. 

4. Smell. It doesn’t matter if you’re a smoker, have pets, or cook a lot with heavy spices—you want to limit any odors that create sensory feelings in buyers, so be sure to air your unit out before listing. This is especially important if you have pets. We’ll sometimes work with buyers who will walk through a home and, the second we leave, say something like, “Did you smell that dog?”

5. Inspection. It might help if you ordered an inspection of your home prior to listing. Having a professional inspect everything and notify you of what you should take care of increases the odds of your transaction closing smoothly. The last thing you want is to go under contract and then have to deal with a ton of maintenance issues you could’ve fixed beforehand. 

As always, if you have questions about this or any real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Have a nice day!