How to Prepare a Home for Open House
The biggest blunders home sellers make is showing their house to the potential real estate buyers without preparing it.
To make the real estate buyers fall in love with your house at the very first sight is not easy.
You must know how to prepare your real estate property for open houses correctly.
Home showings are an important part of the real estate selling process and cannot be overlooked.
Listed below are some handy tips on how you can do up the exteriors and interiors of your house to make it spectacular during the open houses.
1) To boost up the curb appeal of your house, mow the lawn and tidy up the flower beds before the buyers come over. Clean the gutters. Also, make sure that there are no little plants or shrubbery peeking from the roofline; they don’t look the best to a potential buyer.
2) Not everyone loves animals. Even the pet lovers might not like to have a cat or dog greet them when they visit your home. However, shutting the pet in any room of the house and asking the potential buyer not to enter into that room does not sound a wise move. All buyers want to check out the entire house, no matter what. So, the best would be to either crate them or drop them at a close friend's place for the day. In addition, it is also important to corral their playthings, empty the bowls in which they eat and ensure all litter boxes and containers are clean.
3) There is not any house anywhere in the world where creepy things like insects are not present. However, as a seller, giving the illusion that there are no insects or bugs in your house should be one of your major goals. You can place an insect trap below the stairs, under the refrigerator and behind the cabinets. If you still fail to get rid of bugs, then call a good pest control firm to deal with the problem. You should do it well before you put the house on the market to ensure all the little nasties are gone and not present.
4) You may not mind a dark, clammy and damp basement can give an impression of a leaking foundation. While the reason for this could be just that the foundation is sopping up rainwater which must have come from elsewhere, the buyer is most likely to take it as a leakage in the foundation. So, next time when it rains, just go outside to make sure the gutters are unclogged, downspouts are running in the right direction and underground drains or pipes are open and clear.
5) If you have children, preschoolers, toddlers or a newborn, it is obvious you will have a good number of baby paraphernalia and toys piled up in the house. If you wish to sell your house, stash away all this before the showing. You can use a large chest or closet to store the items.
6) In summary to all these things, you must be ready to make some alterations in the house as well. For instance, if you have dim bulbs, replace them with the bright ones so that your house can give an impression of a brighter and bigger space, it does make a difference.