So, you’ve decided to sell your home. Now what? Most sellers enlist the help of a real estate professional in marketing and showing their property, but there are plenty of things a seller can — and should — do themselves before putting a home on the market to make their space more appealing to potential buyers. Below is a checklist (compiled by Corcoran Real Estate) for sellers as they prepare their properties for listing.
Sellers Checklist
- Scrub everything until it sparkles.
- Wash all the windows thoroughly.
- Remove and repair all signs of water damage, mildew and other deterioration.
- Repair holes and cracks in ceilings.
- Repaint with a “commercial double coat” of flat white on walls, eggshell white on ceilings.
- Repair existing wallpaper.
- Repair or restore existing floor surfaces.
- Re-grout wall tiles
- Restore or repair existing bathroom fixtures.
- Add new shower curtain, rod and hooks.
- Repair or renovate kitchen cabinets making sure doors and drawers work.
- Increase existing lighting. Replace old ceiling fixtures, increase bulb wattage.
- Eliminate odors. Remove both the kitty and the litter box. Empty garbage.
- Create pleasing scents. Bake a loaf of bread, boil some cinnamon or set out flowers or potpourri.
- “Expand” bathroom size with visual ploys. Install a mirror opposite medicine cabinet.
- “Expand” closet size with visual ploys like thinning out the clothes.
- “Expand” size of other rooms, e.g. with mirrors at ends of hallways, in corners, adjacent to windows.
- Replace broken window panes and mirrors.
- Repair or replace doorbell.