10 — Say you saw it in The Real Estate Browser of Lynchburg — Volume 9 Number 2 www . LynchburgRealEstateBrowser . com
Getting Ready To List Your House This Spring ? by Dan Vollmer , Associate Broker , ReMax 1st Olympic
By now - between HGTV , Pinterest and the flood of blogs and sources for information about real estate - there ’ s no shortage of avenues from which to get tips and ideas for preparing you home to sell . And you can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to 12 years reading up on what you should do , what you should NOT do , and how “ these 6 tricks will get your home sold NOW !”
Sometimes I find it helps just to boil it down to a simple checklist . This is by no means exhaustive , and certainly there are someone who will say I forgot or ignored what they would consider to be the most important thing . But the bottom line is , if you ’ re getting ready to list your house in the next 30 days , these will give you a great head start .
Obviously clean and declutter . Some people have a natural aversion to clutter , so this is easier for them . Others prefer to be surrounded by the things they love and that mean a lot to them . So how do you decide what to put away and what to keep out ? I always tell people , if you ’ re moving anyway , start boxing up anything you won ’ t need in the next month or so . Whatever you can live without in the next 30 days , put it away .
Touch up paint . Sure , its a pain . And maybe you can ’ t get the exact shade you used a couple years ago anymore , which means … you
guessed it - you ’ re repainting that room . And especially your trim . Just clear an afternoon or a Saturday and go throughout your whole house with a can and a brush and get that trim looking like brand new .
Tighten things up . If you have loose door knobs / handles , secure them properly . Make sure every light bulb in your house works . Broken window blinds , dripping faucets , that cap thingy on the post on your deck that ’ s split … get a new one .
Curb appeal . Pressure wash and mulch ( but not until you ’ re sure its not going to snow any more ). Have torn screens ? Take them out . Clean out your gutters and maybe consider a fresh coat of blacktop on the driveway . Don ’ t break the budget , but shine it up a little .
As I said , there are a number of other things I could add , and many you might see as you hit this list . But if listing your house is in the notso-distant future , taking the time to address these areas will get you ahead of the game . Go get it done , and good luck this spring !
Questions , comments , or have an idea for a future article ? Email me at dan @ DanVollmer . com