Tips for Selling Your Northern Michigan Home

If you're ready to sell your home, we can help. we have seen many Northern Michigan homes for sale. There are many small steps you can take to boost the appeal of your home to a prospective buyer. Making a good impression is crucial. You want your home to be clean, well repaired, and ready to "wow" a prospective buyer. 45th Parallel Realty recommends following these guidelines to prepare your home and yourself for the process of selling your home:

Pricing Your Home

You must be realistic in determining how much your home is worth. You may be tempted to overprice it, but you will be hurting yourself if you do so. If it sits in the market for a long time without selling, interest will begin to drop and you'll have trouble finding a buyer. You can get a general idea by pricing some homes for sale in your immediate area which are roughly the same size, age, and condition as your own. If you want a better idea of what your home is worth, why not let us send you a free home valuation report? we will eliminate the guess-work and allow you to focus on preparing your home for sale.

Preparing Your Home

You don't want to spend too much money on repairs for your existing home. After all, you'll be moving into a new home and you'll have new expenses to deal with when you get there. You will need to handle any necessary maintenance, however, that hasn't yet been taken care of.

Check for any signs of leaks coming from either the roof or the plumbing. After you repair them, you'll want to take care of any visible water damage. Buyers will definitely be checking your ceiling for signs of leaks, and in the process they will notice other stains or cracks up there. A layer of paint on both the ceiling and the walls is always worth the meager investment if it will greatly improve the look of a room. All of the minor details are important, as they all contribute to the impression you're creating. Remember that buyers will likely walk around playing with things, flipping switches, checking drawers, making sure everything works. Don't be caught with a broken door bell or a light switch that doesn't work. Check for sticking doors and windows. If they're creaking, apply a little WD-40.

Pay special attention to your kitchen and your bathrooms. These will come under close scrutiny. Scuff marks, burn marks, and grout problems detract from the atmosphere you're trying to present, but are a fairly quick fix. You may want to resurface your cabinets if they're in bad shape. Time and money put into your kitchen will always pay off when all is said and done. The same goes for new lights and fixtures in your bathrooms. Leaky faucets or stained ceramic are a definite turn-off for a buyer. Get everything looking as fresh as possible without breaking the bank.

Showing Your Home

Take the time to get your home ready before anyone comes to look at it. This is your last chance to create a really good impression. Get rid of all the clutter from around your house. It should be reasonably bare and depersonalized, free of photos and souveniers and knick-knacks. The buyer needs to be able to visualize themselves living there, and your personal effects detract from that.

It's a good idea to rent a storage unit. The garage and closets should not be full of everything you just moved from the rest of your house. When people look to see if there will be room for all their things, it will create an impression of limited space if the storage areas of the house are already full. The same principle applies to drawers and cabinets. Clean your counters, empty your drawers, show the buyer that you have plenty of storage space available. Rearrange the furniture and remove excess or bulky items to free up space and open up features like a fireplace or wood stove. You want the house to feel open and roomy.

Clean up the yard, paying close attention to the front entrance, which is the first thing anyone will see. Clean up the front porch and make sure the door is in good shape. Before anyone shows up, turn on all the lights inside and outside to create a warm atmosphere. Send the kids and the pets off to stay somewhere else for awhile, and keep the radio and the TV off. You want as few distractions as possible. Unlock all the doors around your house so the buyers have full access to check things out. Take notice of any unpleasant odors. If you're a smoker, you should take it outside for awhile before you show the house. Consider putting on a pot of coffee or burning a drop of vanilla extract on the stove for a moment to fill your house with an inviting smell. If you have to be home during the viewing process, stay out of the way, and only volunteer information if asked for it. Give them their space and let your lovely home speak for itself.

For more tips and advice, contact us and we'll guide you through the process safely and smoothly.