Preparing a home for sale doesn’t just mean contacting an agent and putting a For Sale sign in your front yard.  To even get viewings, let a alone get a good price for your property you will need to put in quite a bit of work first.  If you plan on using local agents, and the MLS search tool then the house will need to be prepared for sale beforehand.

Depending on how well you know property, and the market, you can either prepare your house yourself, in advance of having it listed, or enlist the help of a realtor to help you prepare it.  It is often much quicker, and easier to prepare your home as much as possible before putting it onto the market so it is in a saleable condition as soon as it hits.  You can then hit the ground running and merely maintain the condition until it sells.

To effectively prepare your home for sale you first have to stop thinking about it as your home.  You have to see it through the eyes of a buyer and view it critically.  It may be painful to look at the house that has been your home for years and point out the flaws, but if you don’t, a buyer soon will.

It is said that buyers make their mind up within the first few seconds of a viewing, so you have to bear this in mind when preparing.  Start with the outside, stand on the curb and look at your house with a buyers eyes.  Check the overall condition, paintwork, guttering, garden, pathway, driveway, everything.  Make a list of all the things that don’t look perfect and set about making them better. 

Then move indoors, again through the eyes of a buyer.  Look at the flooring, paintwork, decoration, and the general condition of the home.  If you have stained carpet or rugs, clean them up or get rid of them.  If the décor needs updating, do it, don’t wait for a buyer to take it on.  Most buyers want somewhere they can move in to with the minimum of fuss.  Leaving jobs for them to consider when they move in is going to put some buyers off.

Any MLS listing will have photographs, so stage areas of your home to look their best when the pictures are taken.  Then keep the whole house as tidy as possible until a sale has been secured.  Keep animals and children under control, preferably out somewhere when the house is viewed, and keep their mess to a minimum.

As difficult as it may seem, your home will need to look as tidy and as presentable as it does in the marketing photographs from the day it is listed, to the day it’s sold.  It will be hard work, but to achieve the highest possible price, in the shortest possible time, that’s what you’re going to have to do.