Thinking of Selling Your Home?

Belinda Albo – Interior Designer and Author

Read Belinda Albo’s Bio

These Tips Will Help You Spring into Action

1. Purge and Organize: Give the impression of spaciousness (especially if your home is small) by removing bulky and unattractive furniture including accessories. Avoid having an open house if your home is overcrowded with furniture. Instead, try enhancing your layout by giving prospective buyers a positive perspective of the space plan. Make sure your home is obstacle free and efficient. Go through cupboards, closets, storage rooms and bookshelves and remove all needless clutter.

2. Added Value: Make a list of all the improvements you’ve made. If the list is miniscule it’s time to check out what you can do to impress prospective buyers. Remember, the less they have to spend in order to move in, the more attractive your house appears. And don’t worry about the expense -- investing in, say, new appliances, pays for itself when you don’t have to sit week in and week out with a ‘for sale’ sign on your lawn.

3. Go All Out & Sell A Dream: If you find that your home really needs help and you don’t know where to start, call a professional. Learn from the pros and get ideas. This is why show homes always look so good. For a reasonable fee, a designer can come in and re-vamp a home using your things as well as rental props to give your home the temporary facelift it needs.

4. Paint Up: One way to add an immediate facelift to your home is with a fresh coat of paint. For the interiors, choose neutral colours (even white) throughout the home. Avoid bright paint colours, wallpapers and trendy borders. Remember, this is to help sell your home. Prospective buyers will naturally visualize how they will decorate – so the blanker the canvas you can give them, the better.

5. First Impressions: Prospective buyers start making their decisions before they even enter your home. That’s why a clean and tidy exterior is just as important as a spectacular interior. Mow the lawn. Paint the garage door that’s needed a fresh coat for as long as you can remember. Pluck those weeds from your garden, trim the hedges and rake the leaves. You’d be amazed how a beautiful outside can affect a sale.

6. Polish Up: Nothing makes a better statement than a home that is clean and well maintained. Make sure your house sparkles. Spend extra time and attention in your kitchen and bathrooms. Since buyers pay a premium for homes that are cared for, tidying up, dusting up, and vacuuming up makes the most sense in the world.