3 More Things You Can do to Make Sure Your House Doesn’t Suck

September 4, 2007 |

In case you haven’t noticed, there are A LOT of homes on the market in the Charlottesville area.  It doesn’t really matter what type of home someone is looking for, they have many more choices than those that existed a year ago.  This is a very important fact that sellers cannot afford to ignore.

More homes mean increased competition.  Couple this with the fact that there are less contracts to chase, and competition can be down right fierce in any price range.  Sellers who are serious about selling their homes must make sure that they do everything within their power to help their home stand out above the competition.

Long gone are the days of, “put a sign in the yard and it will sell.” Buyers now have the luxury of viewing many different homes before making a decision.  The reality of the situation is that if they think your home sucks, even a little bit, they will move on down the road to the next house.

The question becomes, “how can I make sure that my home doesn’t suck?”

Well, a few months ago, I told you a few little things you can do. Those things are just for starters.  There are other things that might seem obvious, but I show far too many homes that don’t do the simple things that would help them sell.  Here are 3 more things you can do to make sure that your house doesn’t suck:

Clean your house, and keep it that way.  Like I said, this seems obvious, but you would be amazed at how many homes I show that are in some state of disarray.  Look, I am the first to admit that I am not the best housekeeper in the world, but if my home were on the market, you can bet I would make a much more concerted effort to keep it as close to spotless as possible.  If you have kids, especially young ones, keeping the house in order can be difficult at times, but you need to do whatever you can.  This is especially true during times you think you might have a showing, or if you know you are going to have a showing.  You don’t want a potential buyer leaving your house unable to remember the floor plan because they were distracted by the stained floors or dirty dishes in the sink.

Curb appeal matters– now more than ever.  I have more and more buyer clients who are beginning to eliminate houses from their search after simply looking at the exterior photos, or driving by the house.  They do this because they have 10 other homes to choose from, so they don’t want to waste time with a house that they already don’t like the looks of.  There was a time, not so long ago, when homes were selling with little concern for their exterior appeal.  Not any more.  In order to sell your house, you need to get people inside your house.  In order to do that, you need to make it look inviting.  It may be time to trim or remove some hedges and trees, put down some new mulch, power wash the exterior, etc.  Whatever you can do, DO IT.  You want the outside of your house to look as good, if not better, than the inside.

Get rid of the stuff you don’t need.  I know that we all live with stuff we don’t need.  I live with a lot of it myself.  The entire concept of “spring cleaning” is based on the premise that we are living with stuff we don’t need.  If you are putting your house on the market, now is the time to get it out.  I’m not saying you have to throw out everything, but the more you can get out of your house, the better.  After all, you are moving, right?  Everything is going to be out of the house eventually, anyway.  Why not get a head start on things, and give yourself a better chance to sell quickly in the process.  If you throw things away, great.  I have personally used a company called 1-800-GOT-JUNK to take stuff away from my house that I couldn’t hall off myself.  They were wonderful.  Don’t want to throw stuff away, no problem.  Find temporary storage for your things locally, or get a pod, do whatever you need to do to get as much as you can out of your house.  I’m not saying that you have to live like a starving college student (nobody wants to do that again), but if you don’t absolutely need it for the next few months, you may want to get it out of your house now.

In the Charlottesville area, it seems that sellers have become oblivious or ignorant of the need to make minor changes in order to sell their homes.  The smart, successful, and ultimately happy sellers know better.  You want to be one of those sellers, don’t you?  The more houses I show, the more it becomes apparent to me that the sellers who do things to make a difference in their home’s appeal before they put it on the market, are the ones who will have the best chance for success.

Because I want you to be successful, you can bet you will find more posts here about the things you can do to give yourself the best possible chance.

[tags] real estate, realtor, charlottesville, virginia, home improvement, buying, selling [/tags]

Posted by Daniel | Filed Under Home Repair/Improvement, Selling 

Comments

2 Responses to “3 More Things You Can do to Make Sure Your House Doesn’t Suck”

  1. Voting for this week’s People’s Choice Award is open | BloodhoundBlog: Real estate marketing and technology blog | Realtors and real estate, mortgages, lending, investments on September 9th, 2007 11:07 pm

    [...] Daniel Rothamel, 3 More Things You Can do to Make Sure Your House Doesn’t Suck [...]

  2. August Sales Put a Big Dent in the Charlottesville Real Estate Market on September 14th, 2007 1:28 am

    [...] well prepared homes will sell. The key for sellers is to realize that accurately pricing a home and preparing it to sell are now absolute must-do [...]

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