Las Vegas Real Estate – Home Selling Tips

Staging your home to make it more exciting to the buyer

The two most critical points to consider

1. First impressions carry an enormous amount of weight
2. Buyers look for homes that are well cared for, bright, clean and in spotless condition.

The below suggestions are, in my opinion cost efficient. Every hour spent in staging your home and every dollar spent in suggested repairs will be worthwhile in terms of more real dollars in your pocket at the time of sale. Although the current condition of the house is an essential element of market value, it is almost impossible to determine exactly how much the physical condition of the house affects its value. This simply is not an exact science. As a general rule, you should be fairly safe if you subtract two to three times the amount of the fix-up costs.

Yard – Remove clutter and do the normal yard maintenance. Pull weeds, cut grass.

Driveway and Garage – Clean up grease and oil spots. Make sure automatic door opener is in good working condition. Make the garage as clutter free as possible.

Lighting – If you have dimly lit areas of your home shows dark, install high wattage light bulbs. Make sure all of your switches work. Open draperies and blinds. If a home shows dark, it is a real turn-off to potential buyers.

Hallways – Remove any clutter to give wide appearance.

Ceilings – Look for signs of leaks. Fix the cause of the damage and repaint.

Repainting – If you do repaint, stick to neutrals. Repainting is in many cases, a gray area. Often, when I am showing a home I will walk into bedrooms that are painted a real color, like blue, red, yellow or pink. That is to an individual taste. Prospective buyers will most likely not like it and think that they will have to repaint immediately. It would truly be better if you repainted initially. Your home will show much better.

Hardware – Make sure that your sliding glass doors slid easily in their tracks. The same applies for sliding closet doors. Oil hinges, tighten doorknobs and fix any leaky faucets.

Floors – If carpets are soiled and/of give off an odor, have them cleaned. If you have ceramic tile with dirty grout, get it cleaned/repaired.

Window coverings – Make sure that they work. Your sale will probably be contingent of everything in your home being in working order anyway, so do this upfront. If you have a mini-blind or vertical blind with bent or missing slats repair or replace. This is a terrible turn-off.

General Condition – Clean, dust, wash and paint where needed. Clutter is a killer. Remove anything that would give your home the impression of being cluttered. If you have lots of items on dressers, countertops, end tables, floors, refrigerator doors, remove much of this. You may love these things, but for resale, less is more.

Furniture – Remove and store any unnecessary furniture. Your home will have more esthetic appeal and will appear to be larger.

Kitchen – Make sure that your stove, refrigerator and stovetop are spotless. The same goes for your oven. Keep your countertops clear of mess and clutter. Store infrequently used countertop appliances. If you have tile countertops, make sure the grout is clean. Usually tile countertops are white and the grout can be taken care of with a bleaching agent.

I have personally viewed thousands of homes and worked with hundreds of buyers. I above advise comes strictly from my own personal experience. If you have any specific questions regarding staging a home for sale, feel free to email me or call me. I will be happy to help in any way that I can.