Spring is here! Thankfully it’s that time of year again; the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming and the market is hot! If you are thinking of listing your home, now is the time to do it. Before you start stressing out about expensive renovations you need to do in order to get top dollar, remember a little spring cleaning can go a long way. As mentioned in a previous post 60% of Canadians find an unclean home an absolute turn off.
In order to assist all those considering to sell their home, we have conducted a short, inexpensive check list to help you get well on your way to showroom ready:
- Look High, Look Low – Remove and repair all marks and damages from the ceilings, walls, doors and baseboards. If touch up paint is needed and you don’t have any left-over paint you can always take a paint chip off your wall and ask a local paint store to colour match for you. If you feel you need to paint an entire room or even level of the house, consider neutrals, in order to appeal to the largest amount of potential buyers tastes.
- Ground Level – Show your home’s true square footage by removing floor mats in kitchens, bathrooms and hallways. While you’re down there, don’t be afraid to give the floors and baseboards a good scrub or steam clean the carpets to get that fresh new home feel. Pay particular attention to the colour of your grout.
- Inside and Out – Nothing makes me happier than looking out the window on a beautiful spring day, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Allow buyers to share that feeling with beautifully cleaned windows. Our winters can be unforgiving ad their mess hangs around come spring. Take the time to wash windows both inside and outside. For those tricky second floors you can hire window cleaners and it is well worth the investment.
- Behind Closed Doors – Closets serve one purpose and that is storage, and storage is not pretty. However there are things you can do to improve the appeal. First and foremost, organize. You can do this by simply putting same coloured clothing together and putting items in totes instead of cardboard boxes. Also if you have already decided to sell, start packing unused items away to reduce clutter. Finally, back to ground level, by removing all or most items off the floor of your closets it will allow buyers to really appreciate the size of the closet when they can see the floor depth..
These four things may seem simple but the key is to be thorough. When staging homes remember, less is more and happy spring cleaning!
Written by Jessica White, Conestoga College Work Placement Student
