Real Estate Investment 101: Getting Started

Cheap Ways To Prepare Your Home For Selling It

When you put your home up for sale, you have a lot of ways you can approach the showing of that home. You can go all out and remove everything you own, stage the house with great looking furniture and work with a real estate agent who put a lot of stock into open houses. Or, you can continue living in your house and do your best to prepare it for buyers coming in and looking at it, without spending a lot of money. If the latter sounds more appealing, here are 5 cheap ways you can prepare your home for a showing when you aren't in a position of putting forth a lot of money, energy or time:

1: Pack as much of your stuff as possible

  • Showing a house with just the basics, such as furniture and some decorative items is going to be better than showing a house with all of your own personal belongings and familial clutter still visible throughout. Another benefit you get to enjoy from packing ahead of time is you will be closer to moving in to your new place when the time comes for that step.

2: Don't try to hide areas

  • When you are selling your home, you need to be aware that anyone who comes to see it is going to want to see everything. They want to know exactly what it is that they will be getting. For this reason, don't try locking off certain areas or keeping certain doors closed while they are there.

3: Make each room as neutral and basic as you can

  • Decorate every room in a neutral way that removes your own personal touches. For example, if you have a young girl who is into Barbie's and their room is done in bright pink with Barbie dolls everywhere, then you are making it harder for the parents of a boy who is very into football to imagine that room as their son's room. It may be best if you can give the room a neutral paintjob and remove a good amount of those personal touches before showing the home.

4: Give your house a complete scrub down

  • You want to get your house and the entire property as clean as you possibly can before you start showing it to people. Keep in mind that potential buyers are going to want to see all parts of your property in order to determine whether or not they want to buy it, so there are no areas you can overlook when it comes to cleaning and organizing things for a showing.

5: Get rid of any pest issues

  • If you have been dealing with pests, get the problem under control as quickly and as completely as you can. No one is going to be excited about buying a home after they have a flea bite them or after seeing a roach run across the floor.

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