You only have one chance to impress potential buyers, make it count. But what should you do to ensure buyers fall in love with your home? In this video and article we will review everything you need to know!

Remember all those things you kept putting off? You know, the honey-do list that you would “get to in a minute”? Well, now it’s time for you to get to work. All those items need to be addressed. If you noticed them, so will a buyer.

This could be anything from replacing the air filter, filling old nail holes, patching a hole in the wall, replacing the water heater, replacing lightbulbs…  The list could on and on. Just make sure everything that you haven’t done, get’s done. Yes, even though you are selling it.

This is the most bang for your buck type of improvement. It’s not only cost effective, but it gives off a new and clean type of feeling. It’s a simple project that you can do over the weekend. And when it comes to color choices, make sure you pick something neutral and inviting.

Don’t go with something super bold, like red or orange. If you already have those colors, it’s definitely time to change it up! If you are overwhelmed by the amount of color choices you can go with, try hopping on Pinterest and check out what other people have done.

I picked up that saying from a stager we work with here in Houston and I love it. Less = More. When you start prepping your house for sale, de-cluttering is at the top of the list. This is where you will remove all of your clutter and personal touches and start packing items in boxes. Things like personal items, pictures, kids toys, small kitchen appliances (like a kitchen aid, toaster, etc…), loose items laying around the house, etc… The idea is to make this house look as close to a model home as possible.

Let the buyers visualize their stuff in your house, not your stuff. The more stuff you have laying around, the harder it is for a buyer to think of your house as their “home” and not someone else’s. You can also take this opportunity to get rid of things that you haven’t used in years or wouldn’t buy again.

You are moving anyways, so just look at like you are getting a head start on the packing and moving process. It’ll pay off in the end, I promise.

After you finish de-cluttering or during the de-clutter phase, you should consider organizing your closets, bookshelves and pantry. We are going for model home looks here, even though this may be impractical to some people. Just do the best you can!

Any loose items laying around, try and find a home for it. When you organize your closet, you want to give the impression that there is plenty of room for the buyers stuff. You may even find some shoes and shirts you haven’t worn since high school. Now is the time to box it up and donate them.

When it comes to cleaning the house, you can either do this yourself or hire a cleaning company for a couple hundred bucks to do it for you. Money well spent in my opinion, especially with how busy life can get. If you have kids, the hardest part is keeping the house clean! It’s a constant battle, I know. Just do the best you can!

If you have carpet, make sure those areas are deep cleaned, especially if you have pets. Pet odor can hit potential buyers’ nostrils like a freight train if they have never been in your house. Most of the time you won’t even notice your house smells like dog because you’re so used to it.

A trick to a house that constantly smells good is having a couple of diffusers throughout the house, light some candles, or use the air freshener wall outlets. If you have guests over and the first thing they say is “it smells GOOD in here!”, then you are doing it right!

There are 2 types of staging: virtual and real. Each one has their pros and cons, but staging helps tremendously. You really only need to worry about this if the house is vacant.

With virtual staging, our team handles that. But if you want to spend $2,000+ on the real deal, this is usually your responsibility. Some houses need staging to help a buyer visualize how to make the best use of the space. And the market conditions will determine if staging is worth it or not. At the very least, we can do the virtual staging for you.

This is one of my absolute favorite things to do in competitive areas. What is CPO? Think of buying a used car from a dealership…. Certified Pre-Owned. In your case though, it’s not a car, it’s a home.

Take the guess work away from buyers and give them that warm and fuzzy feeling. Hire an inspector to come out and inspect your property. When you receive the report, start repairing items that may be of concern to a buyer. The more you fix, the better a buyer will feel.

We then use this report as leverage and tell everyone that this home has been pre-inspected with most of the deficient items repaired, if not all. The buyer will love this and their confidence will boost higher than Elon Musk’s rocket ships.

Don’t stress over prepping the inside of your house for sale. Use this article as a guide. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to do everything on this list. Just do the best you can. We understand that some people are limited on how much they can do.

We hope you found this article helpful, and if you did, feel free to share it on social media with your friends and family. You never know who else it could help.

Reach out to our team if you have any questions, we are here for you!

Next, read our article about Preparing the Exterior of Your House For Sale.