Making the best first impression

SELLING YOUR HOME: Making the Best First Impression

Monday Oct 19th, 2020

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MAKING THE BEST FIRST IMPRESSION

Making a first impression on that buyer that comes to see your home is of vital importance because we all know, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” How do all of the rooms look including your garage and basement? Each time the buyer looks in those rooms; the buyer is getting a first impression on every room. 

Exterior. What do people see when they get out of their cars whether they are parked on the street or in your driveway? They walk up your driveway and they can see your lawn, edging, flower beds and the front door. Are things CLEAN? Your front door, front lights, front windows, steps, and even the mailbox all need to be clean. 

Interior. When potential homebuyers walk into your front door you want to make sure that everything within their view is visually appealing. Here’s how you can ensure this for yourself: leave the house to run an errand and when you come back walk through your front door. What do you see? Are shoes scattered about near the front door? Is your front closet organized and uncluttered? Every closet matters because homebuyers viewing your home will look in all of the closets and even the kitchen cupboards and drawers! 

Pay particular attention to the bathroom since this tends to be a room where homeowners have too much on the countertops. Put your toothbrush and toothpaste away in a drawer and leave a neatly folded towel there instead. I have suggested to some homeowners to find a nice reading nook in their home and put a book out (maybe on an ottoman) and lay a pair of reading glasses from the dollar store on top. This gives the idea that this is a nice cozy place to hang out and read.

Basement. If there is one area of a home I’ve seen people neglect, it’s the basement – particularly if it’s unfinished. Here’s what you want to do with an unfinished basement: sweep the floor and use concrete paint to paint the floor. If you are storing items in your basement, stack them all neatly along the walls and keep the space open so that homebuyers can envision what they might like to do with that unfinished area of your home. If you have a LOT of things in your basement, I highly recommend doing what my wife and I did one year: we rented a storage space and when our home sold, we moved those items directly from the storage space to our new home. If your basement is finished, we use Rooms in Bloom Home Staging to help you prepare your home to sell and that includes recommendations for the basement too! 

Garage. Much of what applies to the basement applies to the garage. Are there oil stains on the garage floor? If so, clean it up and paint the concrete floor. You can pretend you have OCD like me and look around your garage with a keen eye. Make sure bikes are hanging up off the floor, get the rakes and gardening tools hung on a wall neatly, and any excess items are stacked against the walls. You definitely want potential homebuyers to be able to see the value in having a garage to park in. If your garage is cluttered with “stuff” it’s hard for people to be able to see the value in additional storage space whereas they will definitely see value in a secure garage for their vehicles. 

For more information on how to sell your home for the most money possible, contact us here.

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