| Homeowners

Featured in the June 2023 Edition of Amarillo Magazine

by Kim Lehman-Brown

If you are thinking of selling your home, the summer is a great time to get moving. The Haynes Team of experts at Triangle Realty are here for you to share their top tips for getting your home market ready. If you are ready to list, but don’t have any idea of where to start, the following are Triangle Realty’s top five steps to start you on your journey.

First things first. Map out a plan, including your desired timeline. Do some research on home sales in your area and set your goal date for listing your home. Then, make a list of action items for your timeline that, once accomplished, will simplify the process of selling your home by first getting it market-ready. Home means a sanctuary where personal items that bring comfort and joy abound. The Haynes Team at Triangle Realty wants you to know they understand the sentimental attachment, but when it comes to preparing your house for sell, it is time to flip your mindset. Potential homebuyers want to imagine themselves and their own belongings filling up the space that was once yours, so that means rolling up your sleeves to lay the groundwork for starting with a clean slate.

Being ready to get down to the business of clearing the slate leads to the second step—decluttering and de-personalizing. Excess, personal and heirloom items can distract a buyer from the potential of imagining your home as their own. This step is crucial to setting the stage to make your home more appealing to homebuyers. Doing a thorough job during this step gives you the added bonus of getting a head start on packing. Triangle Realty suggests “halving your home.” This means removing about half of the items you normally have out in your home and hidden away in closets and the garage. Think closets, countertops and couches (furniture). Keeping the “three C’s” in mind, start with the closets. Go ahead and pack away seasonal clothes you have hanging in your closet and donate others, removing items from the floor. Your goal is to create spaces that appear organized and tidy. Remove and pack or donate all but only the barest of essentials on countertops. Homebuyers don’t want to see personal pictures of your family, they want to imagine their own, so go ahead and pack away any reminders. Finally, remove excess furniture, leaving only essential groupings to open the flow of traffic. These staging tactics help your home not only appear larger, but potential buyers can fill in the blanks by imagining their own items in those spaces.

Next, you are ready to remove and repair during the third step. If a buyer never sees a built-in appliance or fixture you want to take with you, they won’t ask for it. Pack it up and replace it if necessary. If your walls feature bold or bright colors, consider repainting in neutral tones that have universal appeal. Be sure to patch any holes in the walls and provide fresh paint touches as necessary. Repair any drawers or doors that don’t open and close properly, fix leaky faucets and replace burned-out bulbs.

First impressions of your home can be the most lasting ones. The fourth step involves making a positive impact on buyers with a few more steps on the inside and the not-to-be-forgotten, outside. Improve your home’s exterior appeal and bolster your recently updated interior with some finishing touches. Providing powerful curb appeal is a sneak peek of great things to come and an invitation to individuals who are home shopping, encouraging them to want to look further at your property. So, apply fresh paint to your entry door and exterior trim, add colorful potted plants, clean out garden beds, tidy up the yard and power wash the drive or entry walkway as needed. Moving indoors, give your interior, including any carpeted areas, a deep cleaning and check for any odors that need to be addressed. Place a vase of fresh flowers near the entryway to welcome visitors. Go ahead and hang fresh towels in bathrooms, wash the windows inside and out, and looking up, clear away any cobwebs and dust the ceiling fans. A polished appearance is key to positive lasting impressions.

The fifth and final step should not be overlooked. You will have worked hard to get to this point in preparing your home for market and will want to make sure it pays off. Choosing a realtor that is hardwired into the community and has mastered the ins and outs of your community’s unique local home market trends is essential to helping simplify what can otherwise be an arduous and daunting task. If you are feeling a little overwhelmed with staging your home, some realtors, such as Triangle Realty, may offer this as part of their service package.

Whether you are readying your home for sell now or in the future, a little research into your choice of realtors and completing the five steps suggested by the Haynes Team at Triangle Realty can go a long way to helping you sell your home faster and get you closer to your goal of moving into your new dream home.