Get Your Glen Ellyn Home Ready to Sell

By Melissa Steele and Charlotte Eriksen

So you’ve made the decision to sell your home. Now what?

It takes a lot of mental preparation to let go of a space you’ve grown to love, and the process of selling your home can be particularly strange if you are still living in it.

Mike LaFido, local realtor and author of "Cracking the Real Estate Code" said homeowners should take the following steps when getting ready to list their home:

Stage the home: "Decorating is for living and staging is for selling," LaFido said. The more neutral the decor, the more potential buyers the home will attract, he said.

"If you keep it the way you had it, you might be looking for a needle-in-a-haystack buyer—they (buyers) want turnkey ready and can't see past your floral wallpaper."

Pre-home inspection: The number one reason deals fall apart, said LaFido, is because of inspection issues.

Inspections position sellers to attract better offers because they're more transparent, and buyers know what they're getting themselves into, he said.

Appraisal: An appraisal will help sellers market their home and detract buyers from making "lowball" offers. 

LaFido also recommends getting professional photos of the home and keeping curb appeal in mind during the staging process. 

For more Glen Ellyn real estate information, visit our page.

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Here are some tips that will make your home more presentable to buyers, and also help you prepare to move into your new digs.

1. Clear out clutter. If you haven’t touched it within the past year, toss it. You can also donate unwanted items to a local charity if they’re too good to trash. Pack up things you plan to take with you and get them out of sight. If necessary, rent a storage space. 
2. While you’re cleaning your home for viewers, pack up most of your personal photographs. They are distracting to potential buyers and this action will help them see the house as their potential home instead of yours.
3. Keep your kitchen clean. That means flowers on your table, no dishes in the sink, no junk on the counters, and no finger smudges around cabinet handles. Pack up everything but the bare essentials from the cabinets so that they are tidy too. If a prospective buyer opens a kitchen cabinet and sees too much stuff, they will think the kitchen is cramped.
4. Keep your closets tidy too. Packing little by little will make your final transition easier. Plus, buyers think a tidy homeowner has also taken good care of the place. Lining up shoes, and grouping shirts, pants and dresses together in the closet can also make a big impact.
5. Sometimes the old adage “less is more” applies to furniture in your home. Move some things to storage if individual rooms are too crowded. It will make the rooms appear larger.
6. If there are window treatments, light fixtures, appliances or other “attached” items you plan to take with you, remove them and replace them before showing your home so that the buyer won’t think they are included.
7. Freshen up paint and make repairs to things such as torn screens, cracked tiles and rotting windowsills before the realtor even puts the sign up. If the realtor sees potential problems like these, he or she might not make showing your home a top priority.
8. If your daughter’s room is pink, or your living room is painted a bold color, consider repainting it a more neutral color. Depersonalizing your home allows viewers to use their imaginations and visualize your home as their own. Don't let buyers walk away remembering your home as "the one with the orange bathroom."
9. Lighting is everything, so make sure there are no burned out bulbs inside or outside your home, and make sure you have the most complimentary lighting on when your realtor brings over a client. Overhead lights show too many issues and flaws, but a soft lamp in a corner makes a room seem cozy.
10. Make the beds, and make them nicely!  Don’t just toss the pillows on--arrange them in an aesthetically pleasing way.
11. Make sure all mirrors, windows, porcelain, faucets and appliances are clean and sparkly!
12. Dust and vacuum every single surface, including baseboards, ceiling fan blades, and carpet in the corners of stairs and rooms.
13. Choose a fresh scent that doesn’t smell too much like bleach to clean tiles, tubs and toilets.
14. Little touches like pulling down all window blinds to the same level and making your front entrance inviting set the tone for the way the rest of the house is viewed.
15. Outside is as important as inside. Mow grass, trim bushes, and sweep away cobwebs, leaves and dog hair. 
16. Invest in a potted plant or two to put along your front steps.  You won’t believe what a difference that little touch of curb appeal will make.

Last but not least, do a walk-through pretending you are a prospective buyer. Note the things that would turn you off and then fix them!

Happy selling!