A Seller’s Checklist for Preparing your Home for Sale

Seller

If you expect your St. Augustine, Florida home to show well and sell quickly it is important to embark upon several projects before opening your house up to potential buyers.

Preparing your St. Augustine home for sale should involve three stages:

Cleaning
Fixing
Updating

Cleaning may be, perhaps, one of the most important things you can do before listing your home. A clean home shows your buyers that you take pride in your home and have not neglected it over the years. A clean home also makes buyers feel comfortable and welcome, and enables them to envision themselves in your home. Finally, a clean home allows buyers to focus on the home itself, instead of its mess.

A good place to start when cleaning your home in anticipation of listing it for sale is to clear out the clutter. Anything that you don’t need, use or want should be donated, sold or discarded. This is the ideal time to have a garage sale!

Once the clutter has been eliminated, you are in a better position to tackle the dirt, dust and grime. Steam clean the carpets, wash the draperies and scrub the kitchen down from the floor to the ceiling.

Fixing up your home, like cleaning, allows buyers to witness your pride of homeownership and instantly realize that you value your home and have not neglected it. A missing switch plate or a crack in the wall may seem minor to you, but to a buyer it may signify that other things in the home have also been neglected.

Take a walk around your home, armed with a pencil and paper, and note all areas which need attention. A few cans of paint and a few dollars in supplies can instantly transform your weathered, worn home into a showplace. Taking care of repairs can also enable you to breeze through a home inspection and eliminate conflict and frustration during this time.

You may also consider hiring a home inspector to do a pre-sale inspection. This will allow you to pinpoint areas of concern and address them beforehand.

Updating your St. Augustine property is a tricky area, as you want to update it to get the best price for your home, while also recouping most, if not all, of your remodeling costs. It is best to research your area and to talk with your real estate agent about possible remodeling projects. Your agent can give you a better idea if the project you have in mind is worth your time, sweat and money.

It may take a considerable amount of hard work, time and elbow grease, but addressing these issues will allow you to command top dollar for your property.

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