Addressing the home’s interior
Last week we looked at the exterior, now for the interior
It’s exciting to think about selling your home but it can be a little overwhelming. Where to begin? In last week’s post we looked at 10 points to think about regarding the exterior of the home. Let’s turn that same thinking to the interior of your home. Again, your budget and the time you can spend will determine how much of these things you can do. Doing all of them will ensure that your home is a shining star once it hits the market. Doing most of them will ensure that your home is ready for buyers to come and look and fall in love with your home. Doing none of them means you have to adjust your price to include an “as is” or “fixer-upper” sale.
Here goes, 10 points to consider for the interior in getting ready to sell:
1. Get a storage unit or clear a space in your garage and start packing! It’s time to declutter and open up the space. Pack up all knick-knacks, personal photos, clutter, etc. Your goal is to have your bookshelves, closets and surfaces have barely anything on or in them. Kitchen and bathroom counters need to be completely bare except for hand soap. You want potential buyers to see the home and envision themselves living there.
2. Replace any burned out bulbs or faulty light switches. If a prospective buyer goes to turn on a light and it doesn’t turn on because of a burnt out bulb, they may think the worst and figure there’s something wrong with the electric system in your home. You might consider getting a whole house inspection done to find out all the little things that could be fixed. A buyer usually gets a whole house inspection but if you get to it first then they won’t have anything to request from you to fix during escrow.
3. Pet or smoke odors can lose you thousands of dollars off the sale of your home, so if you have a pet or you smoke, consider waiting to deep clean the home until a week before your home goes on the market and then the cleaning smells will be fresh for the rush of buyers when they come the first couple weeks.
4. Deep clean the entire house: windows, sills, blinds, curtains, carpet, cabinets, walls, baseboards, trim, ceiling fans, surfaces, tub and toilet stains, grout stains, etc. And remember the oven! Consider having your carpets professionally cleaned and have any sections that have stains or rips repaired. If your budget allows, hire professional cleaners to come in and do the deep cleaning.
5. No cobwebs anywhere. Especially just before open houses or showings, take a duster and go over everything.
6. Paint brightly colored walls a neutral color like beige, sand or off white. This will help prospective buyers to better imagine their own color schemes in the home.
7. Patch and paint any holes. This is a good task to do just prior to deep cleaning.
8. Repair leaky faucets, loose doorknobs, cabinets that don’t close all the way, etc.
9. Small updates that pack a big punch could include new, modern faucets in kitchen and bath; newer, modern ceiling fans and light fixtures; new throw pillows and area rugs and new towels for the bathroom.
10. If your home is in the City of Chico and was built prior to 1991 and you bought it more than 10 years ago then you will need to ensure that you have R30 ceiling insulation in order to sell your home. The buyer can take responsibility for that but that is something that the typical buyer will expect a seller to do. So if you do it ahead of time then you will be better off. This is something you can discuss with your real estate agent.
There are many ins and outs to getting a home ready to put on the market. Emmett and Kim Jacobi – The Jacobi Team – are experts in navigating the intricacies of selling a home and also of buying a home. Contact them today to start a conversation.
