So you’ve listened to my advice from yesterday and your home is depersonalized and de-cluttered. Is it really decorated to sell? Probably not. Here’s where we may need to spend a couple of dollars. The first thing that we need to address is smell. If a buyer walks in and thinks the home has a funny smell, they are rarely going to buy the home. If there’s a bad smell, it will almost always be their first comment about a home. If the source of the funny smell is your pet (or pets), then we need to seriously think about how we can find a temporary home for that pet during the listing period. Seriously think about it. Especially if your home has a lot of carpet. Of course we need those carpets cleaned and deodorized, but I’ll go back to my first and most important point: Pets do not do anything to sell the home. If there’s a way they can be removed, they absolutely should be.
If the smell is smoking, we need to stop smoking in the house. Sorry about that, but the majority of the population doesn’t smoke, and a non-smoker that enters a home that’s been smoked in (because they can smell it), finds the smell a major turn-off. If you must smoke, do it on the back patio. But be sure to leave no trace of your smoking. That means no visible ashtray, and definitely no cigarette butts mixed in with the landscaping. Just like the kitchen sink, this is a daily requirement.
How do we add a pleasing smell to the home? The best way to add a pleasing smell to a home is to bake something. Bread, cookies, cake, pie, etc. all add a wonderful natural aroma to a home. Toll Brothers bakes Nestle Toll brand cookies every day in their model homes in a small toaster oven. It works. If you’ve got a bread maker that’s been collecting dust in the kitchen, now’s the time to use it. Especially on a weekend morning before a key showing that afternoon.
As a shortcut, boiling a cinnamon stick in water on the stove works well. Plug-ins are better than nothing, but be careful. Artificial odors need to be kept toned down, while natural smells can be stronger.
The house is free of clutter and it smells nice, now what? The first thing to do is closely examine the first impression: the front door and entry. A study reported that a buyer makes the decision that this home is “it” within 15 seconds of entering the home. What do they see in the first 15 seconds, and how can we make that as appealing and inviting as possible? This is where we need to focus.
The front landscape and walkway need to be clean of debris and inviting. Nothing is overgrown and every plant is alive and healthy. To be appropriately Feng Shui, at the front door we should find water. Ideally moving water from a fountain. A small table top fountain can be used that will add a pleasing, refreshing sound right as that potential buyer enters the home. I also like to find something green. A silk or live plant just inside the doorway says “life” in the mind of the buyer.
Once past the entry way, to make the entire home feel inviting and comfortable, music isn’t a bad idea. A small transistor radio playing 99.9 KEZ or 95.5 KYOT is a simple solution if your home doesn’t have a whole house music system. If your house does have a whole house music system, select music that’s just slightly more exciting than elevator music. Think Starbucks coffee house music.
From the entry, the rest of the house primarily needs to be free of anything alarming. If you have painted a room a bright color, because it suited your personality and tastes, we’ll want to tone that down. The one exception is the use of the color red. Recently, red has become popular, and when used in the correct rooms, with appropriate furniture, a room painted red will make a strong emotional connection with the potential buyer. Some will hate it, but others will absolutely fall in love with it. The two rooms red can work well in are a formal space (living/dining room) and the kitchen. However, red doesn’t work as well in bedrooms or secondary rooms. It might work in a family room, but again, probably not. If you need to paint, and you can’t stand the idea of going beige (which is never a bad idea), choose a light grey-green color before you choose light yellow, again, because green is currently more popular than yellow.
In each room, enable the buyer’s imagination to fill the space, so remember that less is more. As you move items around the house, if you are wondering where to store all of the extra stuff, the garage is the best place. You can fill an entire garage bay with boxes of packed items, so long as the buyer can see the size of the garage and park at least one car in the garage. If you have so much stuff to store that the garage is too small, strongly consider renting a Mobile Mini (my personal preference) or having a garage sale.
Finally, if you need help with decorating your home for sale, give me shout. I’ve got experts that can provide furniture, suggest ways to work with your existing furniture, and/or do light remodelling to make your home stand out in the crowd.
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