If you want to sell your home, it’s crucial that you make the necessary preparations even before you meet your REALTOR®.
Follow these steps and provided you make a good choice in selecting a REALTOR®, (see this link for hints on REALTOR® selection) you will be well on your way to success.
1. Tidy up, pre-pack & throw stuff away
If you have lived in your home for any length of time, chances are that you have accumulated far too much stuff. Those souvenirs that we buy on vacation, Christmas and birthday gifts from years gone by, extra furniture now redundant, unused DVD or CD collections, books, tools, towels, clothes, sports equipment. You get the picture?
In every room, start at the lowest horizontal surface and work your way up. Not only will you feel better as the clutter reduces, you will also get a sense that your home is now much bigger. Oh and please take all those family pictures and reminder notes off the fridge. Buyers will not want to see those.
If you want to put your home on the market soon, it’s important that you get rid of extra items as quickly as possible.
These are the fastest methods to eliminate your unwanted items and junk:
1. Goodwill – Delivering your items to Goodwill is the quickest and easiest way to dispose of most items. They have locations around the entire city. To find your nearest Drop Off Centre click on the link.
2. Edmonton Waste Management Centre – You have the choice of visiting the Edmonton Waste Disposal Centre which is situated to the east of Edmonton, (click on the link for directions) or you can visit one of the many Eco Stations around the city and surrounding areas. Click the link to find your nearest one.
3. Sell My Stuff Canada – This company emerged recently on the Edmonton scene and several of our clients have used them and they were very pleased with how things went. For best results you need to have lots of good-quality items that folks will pay for. It also works best if there is no one currently living in the home, for example an estate sale, or if you have managed to completely let go emotionally of your items according to Craig Hart the owner operator.
You can email edmonton@sellmystuffcanada.com or call Craig for details 780-668-6721. Craig and his team will then advertise on line and have a ‘sale day’. Sometimes its like an auction. Sometimes it’s not. You will pay a percentage of whatever is sold. By the end of the day, all your items will be sold. If there is anything left over, Craig and his team will dispose of those items for a fee.
If you have more time, there are some other options available to you:
1. Kijji – When you advertise, make sure you price the items realistically or you could be waiting a long time. Based on experience, price well and make it clear your price is firm.
2. Garage Sale – If you have lots of time the great Canadian tradition of holding garage sales might be useful particularly if you advertise well using social media etc. For some helpful hints of running a garage sale well click this link.
2. Do a super clean & maintain it.
Even an empty home accumulates dust and dirt. If your family is living in the home, there is a reasonable chance of dirt, dust and debris existing that you have learned to live with. However, a buyer’s senses will not be attuned to these aspects of your home and we strongly recommend that you give the house a very good clean. This would include: washing the walls, baseboards and steam cleaning the carpets. When a prospective buyer visits your home, the first 5 seconds are crucial. See this link for details about the importance of the first 5 seconds to buyers. If the house says ‘hello’ when the buyer walks in, you are off to a great start. It’s a little stressful, but it’s critical that you maintain this level of cleanliness during the ‘showing period’ of your home sales process.
3. Make any necessary repairs
Are there things around the home that you have been putting off fixing? Perhaps a door knob is loose or a few light bulbs need replacing. Perhaps there is a tear in the carpet etc. This is the time to get these things fixed. For a list of renovations and repairs and an estimate of the likely return on investment please see this report from Harrison Bowker.
4. Consider re painting walls, trim & the front door
Walls and trim take a beating every day. Repainting where necessary will give your home a new feeling of freshness. Based on research, we also know that you will typically get every dollar back. For a list of other repairs and their likely return on investment please see this link.
5. Consider staging your home
Many home sellers are reluctant to make the investment in staging services and it’s easy to understand why. A good quality staging program is going to cost you hard dollars. However, if you select a good stager, you will likely sell faster and for more money. See this link for more information about staging.
Want more information about our discount and flat fee home selling programs? Please feel free to call our broker owner Stuart Neal at: 780-760-2014.
This blog was first published April 28th 2017. It was amended, updated and re published in February 2018.
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