With the last deluge of snow melting away, the time for preparing homes for sale is rapidly approaching in Northern Virginia and across the nation. Typically, as here in Arlington VA, Realtors will see an influx of homeowners who want to get their home on the market by Spring for the coming Summer months, because they know that the garden will be budding out, the temperature will be perfect for house hunting, and they have gotten the Spring cleaning bug and are ready to tackle the task.
There is a certain level of deep cleaning that you will want to do to prepare the interior of your home for the market. It can often seem like a huge obstacle when you’re about to put your home on the market, but the truth is that the earlier you can get a jump on de-cluttering and general maintenance, the better! Make things more manageable for yourself by making lists of interior and exterior items which need to be taken care of and start crossing them off as you make progress. Your agent should let you know that it is much better for you to have your home ready for the market before you post it to the MLS.
NOVA residents and folks across the nation will begin the preparations for getting their home listed on the market. Statistics show that home buyers are looking more and more for home that are move in ready. Some people may like the idea of a fixer-upper, but when viewing a homes, they are still going to have an initial emotional reaction to a clean versus a dirty home and unfinished projects that may just need to be finished up to maximize your bottom line. There are plenty of ways to prep your home for sale without breaking the bank; it just takes a little elbow-grease.
Northern Virginia real estate agents will tell you that you should take a few days to remove items that you don’t immediately need for your day to day life; box any seasonal items and products up and store them out of site so that a potential buyer can recognize the potential of your home. No one wants to move into someone else’s mess, and getting your home clean before sale is of the utmost importance. Eliminating evidence of indoor pets and a child’s play things is generally a great idea so that potential buyers can imagine themselves and their lifestyle in the home.
Not only will potential buyers want to see a tidy home from the inside, but the ever-important curb appeal should be primped and preened as well. Making sure that the entry to your home is welcoming and accessible is imperative. You want for your home to be as inviting to a potential buyer as it was to you when you first purchased it!
Some people may even take preparing their home for sale a step above and beyond the de-cluttering and cleaning to the energy efficiency upgrades that so many homeowners are looking for. Even here in Northern Virginia, real estate agents are seeing a trend towards quicker sales on homes which are more energy efficient and have a healthy living quality. Studies have shown that homes which are high performance and can save a home-buyer money in the long run sell for a higher cost per square foot and in a significantly shortened amount of time.
