How to Prepare Your Home for a Real Estate Agent

When a homeowner is ready to sell their house, their first call is typically a real estate agent. A real estate agent helps sellers get their home ready for the market and often makes recommendations for repairs and renovations prior to listing. These touch-ups can help increase the value of your home and get it sold faster. Every home has unique features and selling points that experienced real estate agents know how to take advantage of. However, some recommendations find their way onto every seller’s list. To save you time during the listing process and show your real estate agent that you are serious about selling your home, consider making the following changes to your home before calling a real estate agent.

Make Necessary Repairs & Touch-Ups

When it comes to making repairs and touch-ups in your home, it is helpful to take a walk through and pretend you are seeing it for the first time. Examine it as if you were a buyer, what negative things stick out? We recommend prioritizing the small and inexpensive repairs that would negatively affect a buyer’s first impression. A real estate agent will suggest making these repairs regardless so you will save time down the road and demonstrate your desire to sell fast.

When it comes to larger and more expensive repairs and renovations, we recommend seeking the advice of a real estate professional. They can guide you on renovations that will add value to the sale price of your home and which will not. Consider these common, recommended repairs and touch ups before calling your agent:

1. Fix small items such as loose handles, missing or broken light bulbs, holes in window screens, leaky faucets, holes in walls, missing or damaged baseboards/trim, etc. These small repairs are low-cost and have a big impact on a buyer’s first impression.
2. Re-paint with neutral colors such as whites, grays, and beiges. Painting with neutral colors not only brightens and freshens up your home but also allows buyers to envision their future ideas for the home. Do not forget to re-paint or touch up any necessary trim and baseboard.

Deep Clean & Declutter

When selling your home with a real estate agent, they will provide you a list of things that should be done to get your home on the market and sold quickly. Cleaning and decluttering are always on the list of things to do, so why not get ahead of the game and show your real estate agent that you are serious about selling your home? Check out these pointers for getting your home in tip-top shape for your real estate agent:

1. Remove all personal items from your home such as family photos, children’s artwork, etc. Additionally, consider getting rid of or storing bulky furniture pieces. If you have no place in your home to store these items, consider getting a temporary storage unit until you relocate to your new home. This helps buyers project themselves, their belongings, and their future into the home.
2. Declutter. Clean out and organize all the closets, storage areas, cupboards, drawers, etc. Move everything you can into storage and organize these spaces to help buyers get the impression that there is ample storage space for their items. Messy closets and jam-packed cupboards can leave buyers with a negative impression of storage space.
3. Deep clean top-to-bottom! This is more than just a ‘spring cleaning’, you want to ensure that you clean every area of your home thoroughly. This will brighten and freshen up your home for pictures and viewings. Do not forget the hard-to-reach and forgotten areas of the home such as ceiling fans, windows, ledges, walls, carpets, etc.

Finishing Touches

When the house is decluttered and refreshed, it is time to bring in the finishing touches. A real estate agent who is an expert in the local market will be able to adjust the final look of your home for pictures and viewings in a way that appeals to the market and adds the most value. However, here are some basic and important finishing touches that are sure to add value to your home:

1. Take a look at your home’s curb appeal and do some maintenance. Ensure your yard work is done, the front and back yards are cleaned up, your front door is in good condition, etc. Consider adding some potted flowers and other small decorative pieces to make the home feel more welcoming.
2. Staging is a simple yet extremely delicate process when getting your home ready for sale. Often, a real estate agent will have experience with professional staging or will hire a professional to help get the job done. However, some fresh linens in the washrooms and a few strategically placed houseplants will always add value.

Get Professional Guidance for Selling your Home with Davids & DeLaat

At Davids & DeLaat we know how important it is for our sellers to get the most value out of their homes. We are experts in the local Niagara Region real estate market and we dedicate ourselves to each and every one of our clients and their goals. If you are looking to sell your house in the Niagara Region, contact the experienced team of real estate professionals at Davids & DeLaat today.