5 Tips to Get Your House Ready to Sell

When potential home buyers come for an open house or scheduled showing, the last thing they want are decorating distractions or off-putting paint colors that prevent them from seeing themselves living in your house. That's why if you're really serious about selling your house—maybe you took our advice about looking into downsizing—you should follow these 5 tips for prepping your house so that it's really ready to sell.

1. Go neutral. Yeah, we know. Beige is so boring. But it doesn't distract home buyers when they're walking through your house. You know what does? Orange shag carpet and bright red walls, two things my husband and I witnessed first hand when we were buying a house a few years ago. Immediately, I started ticking off in my mind how much I would have to spend to get rid of that ugly flooring or repaint those rooms, and how much less of an offer I would make given these extra expenses on my end. Don't let potential buyers go to that place where I did, where these distractions made those houses less attractive to me.
2. Get rid of personal things. Putting away family heirlooms isn't just a safety precaution, now that thieves are targeting open houses. It's also a way to de-personalize your house and make it easier for buyers to envision moving in and making it their home. So box up the family pictures, the grandkids' art work on the refrigerator, and anything else that your Realtor says is too personal to keep around.
3. Fight off any off-putting odors. The day before an open house is not the time to test that new curry recipe—you know the smell will still be lingering the next day. If you can't sniff out odors in your house, invite someone with a sensitive nose over to point out what you need to clean up before a showing. This might include a cat's litter box (move it to the garage?), the trash bin in the kitchen, or your musty basement.
4. Cut the clutter. Remember those distractions you want to avoid? Well, clutter is yet another potential distraction. In addition, clutter makes rooms and closets feel smaller, and when it comes to showing a house, you want to see wide open spaces. If necessary rent a storage unit, sell things on Craigslist, or have a garage sale to cut down on the clutter inside the home. (Check out how clutterbusting helped this house sell for above its asking price!)
5. Make rooms look like something out of a magazine. You can hire a home stager to make your house look great before it goes on the market. Or if you're a visual person, you can pick up some of your favorite home magazines and see how they style the various rooms so you can do it yourself. For example, adding some fluffy white towels and jars of bath salts can make your bathroom look more spa-like, and colorful cookbooks and vases of flowers can transform a ho-hum kitchen into something more inviting.

What advice do you have to share about getting a house ready to sell?