Hello, hello & happy Thursday (a.k.a Friday eve!)! How’s your week going so far? Are you aching for the weekend to get here? I know we have a ton to do over the next few days in the backyard of our flip house, so we’re crossing all of our fingers and toes for sunny & warmer weather so we can tackle our to-do list! Nick’s busy wrapping up the upstairs bathrooms in the meantime, and I’m just getting ready to play outside the next few days while we stain the deck! I’m thinking those below freezing highs we’ve been seeing are behind us, for the time being at least! (YAY!)
As we inch closer and closer to one of our favorite days of the year, listing day, we have a few things that we are gearing up to do just before we list House #4 for sale!
That brings me to today’s House Talk topic: What we ALWAYS do right before we list our house for sale!
So, we’ve done ALL the work and now we’re ready to put that “For Sale” sign front and center in the yard to welcome ALL the showings in, right? Right.
BUT, there are a few things that MUST happen before we open the doors to our potential buyers.
Here are a few things we ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS do before we ever put that sign up to list our houses.
Deep clean
I mean, DEEEEEP clean! When I say we cover every inch possible, I mean every inch! There’s nothing worse than going to see a house that’s listed for sale (I’ve seen this happen way too many times!) and feel like they haven’t cleaned it in ages! I honestly believe having a clean house can make or break a sale, no matter how nice your updates are! If all else fails, hire a professional cleaner too to help with the corners you can’t reach or see! Then, scrub until you can’t scrub anymore!
>>This also means store away any signs of a pet. Food bowls, blankets, beds, toys, etc! I like to have a box specifically for our pet items that I can toss their things into for showings quickly and easily! Once you’ve removed these items, scrub extra hard where those things typically are to make sure there’s no sight, sound or smell of them! This is HUGE and something I always hear from buyers that can deter them from falling in love with a home!
Some of my favorite cleaning products are these Mrs. Meyer’s kitchen basics, like the ones below!
De-personalize and de-clutter
We de-personalize our houses from top to bottom. As you know, we live in the houses we’re flipping so I like to have them feel as much like our home as I can during the process. That is, until we get ready to sell. We remove any and all pictures throughout the house just to help the potential buyers be able to picture themselves living in the home instead of us! It’s always an odd feeling, no matter what the circumstances, when you’re going through someone else’s house as buyers. But, if you try to remove all personal photos, notes, anything that screams “owners of the home”, DO IT for the sake of your buyer’s mental ability to feel at home in your listed property.
Landscape clean-up front and back
We luck out in this area because Nick is a landscaping expert. But, it’s huge to have really great curb appeal to your home! We are firm believers that the exterior should be an extension of the interior and it’s a HUGE selling feature to a listed property. From the mailbox, to the exterior lighting, to the leaves on the ground–we clean them all up, replace bulbs, blow the leaves, and anything else necessary to clean up any and all landscaping areas outside. I can’t express this anymore that landscaping is one of the cheaper ways you can easily update your home before you sell and grab the attention of your buyers by being nice, clean and well taken care of.
Fresh flowers
This is something we’ve done since the very beginning. We always buy fresh flowers for the kitchen and the bathrooms before we list our house. Then for each showing we make sure the flowers are bright and lively throughout the house! It’s a small touch but goes a long way in really giving your home a clean and happy vibe! Plus, it doesn’t hurt having fresh flowers around the house even if you aren’t selling your home, right?
New front door mat, and candles
I may or may not have an addiction to buying front door mats. I just love the feeling that you can give someone by having a super cute and welcoming door mat (and front door wreath!). It doesn’t have to be crazy, but just something classic, welcoming, and most importantly NEW is huge in giving your buyers a warm welcome to your listed property. We also always buy new candles throughout the house before we list. (We do for sale by owner so we’re always there right after our showings are over the blow out the candles, safety wise!) I just like the cozy feel that candles give the house as buyers go through it and the subtle scents don’t hurt either! Of course, don’t go crazy and get the strong smelling, headache inducing candles to deter your buyers either! Find a happy medium!
Get professional photos done
Photos are what gets your buyers through your door. Without having great looking photos, no one will want to setup a showing for your house. I can’t tell you how many images I’ve seen on the MLS as a realtor and the pictures are just down right awful. There’s a HUGE difference when you see well-lit, bright, clear, easy to follow photos of a home that’s listed for sale, versus blurry, mis-matched, cluttered, messy and just bad pictures the same house! The one thing you want to keep in mind with the pictures is that you want the pictures to depict what the actual home feels like! It’s always a disappointment when you walk into a house and the feeling doesn’t add up to the pictures. Just make sure that your images show the layout of the house, are well lit and are in focus! When all else fails, hire a professional real estate photographer! It’s well worth every penny, I promise!
Print out flyers
After our photos are done for the house, we like to design and print flyers to have outside the house with the for sale sign. It’s filled with information about the home, price, square footage, beds/baths, all updates and description. This helps people driving by get a good idea of what shape the house is in and if they’d like to schedule a showing! We’ve had to re-print flyers so many times before because sometimes walkers or neighbors like to grab a few, so we’ve learned to print a few more than we think we’ll need just in case!
This is the box we use to attach to our for sale sign!
>>Lastly, we put out our (above) “Coming Soon” sign about 2 weeks or so before we actually list our house to help our neighbors and passers-by see we’re about to hit the market! It’s just another little hint of something we like to do in our flipping business to get the word out, we’re ready to sell!!
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And, that’s a wrap for today’s house talk! I hope this helps you get a few ideas if you’re in the market for selling your own home! These tips definitely apply to all types of houses for sale, not just our flip houses! After doing this a time or two, we realized that these last few tasks ALWAYS need to be done BEFORE we list! It’s proven time and time again, to be one of the huge factors in our quick turn around on these houses!
Just to recap: curb appeal, cleanliness, welcoming vibes, and crisp clear photos can be a huge determining factor in if/when your house will sell!
Last but not least, don’t forget, I am a licensed Realtor in the state of Arkansas, so feel free to reach out if you ever have any questions about real estate! I am always more than happy to help in any way that I can! I can even help get you set up with an agent in your area, no matter what state you’re in! Feel free to reach out by e-mail at chelseactive@gmail.com!
I hope the rest of your Thursday is awesome in every way! Let’s talk again soon tomorrow for some Friday 5’s, k?
Questions for YOU today: (Comment below with your thoughts!)
Have you ever sold a house before?
What’s your favorite room to clean in your house, and least favorite?
-My favorite room to clean is definitely the kitchen! I feel like when the kitchen is clean, I’ve been productive! HA! 🙂 My least favorite is definitely, the bathroom. It has to be done though, so what’s a girl to do? Oh well, adulting struggles are real, right?!
What are you doing TODAY for some self-care?
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