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5 anal-retentive selling strategies that you can ride to the closing table

Posted on August 28, 2008

No one likes a “tight-wad,” but, they’re the ones laughing all the way to the bank when it comes to selling these days.  The point is, sellers who take meticulous care of their home and property and look after all the details have a much greater chance of selling quickly, or selling at all.  Here are 5 critical details to look after to give you and your family the absolutely best chance to sell your home:

 

1. Baseboards and ceilings.  Ever walk into somebody’s home and cringe at the dust, cobwebs, dirt, and grime that are in the corners of the rooms?  Yeah, we’ve all been there.  No one means to be dirty; most people don’t even think to clean those tough to reach spots.  But if you want to make an impression on people, look after those far-reaching, out of the way areas and impress buyers.  Clean and dust the corners.  Put a fresh coat of paint on the ceilings.  Walk the perimeter of the inside of each room in the house with a paintbrush and touch up all the nicks and scratches along the baseboards.  When you’re done, you’ll be amazed at how much brighter your home looks and feels.  Buyers will be blown away by how meticulous you are and will feel real security in buying your home.  If you’re anal enough to dust and paint the corners, you’ve certainly kept up all the other parts of the home.
2. Make your gardens look like the flower beds at August National Golf Course.  Well, that may be extreme, but you get the idea.  If you have fresh mulch, bright, healthy looking plants, absolutely no dead branches on a single bush, and your garden is 100% weed-free, your buyers will be drawn to your home.  Take the time to meticulously weed and edge your garden and keep it fresh.  Buyers will be pulled inside after salivating over your property.
3. Organize drawers and closets.  Buyer walks past your beautiful, lush gardens; they are impressed with your meticulously cleaned corners and baseboards.  They’re really warming up to the place.  They open the hall closet….and are nearly trampled to death by all the crap that falls out.  All your hard work on the rest of the place just went down the tubes.  Here’s a thought: buyers hate “packrats.” Or maybe they don’t hate them, they just don’t buy their houses.  Take the time to go through all the drawers and closets.  Throw out 90% of what’s in there.  The reason why drawers and closets exist is so you can store stuff you think you need but never use.  Get rid of it.  Take all remaining stuff out, clean drawers and paint closets, and then organize the 10% of stuff you decide to keep.  Buyers will think, “Wow, look at all this free space to store all my stuff.”
4. Plants.  Two points here.  One, have them all around the house.  Healthy plants spruce up the look of a room and just as importantly, bring a real calming, peaceful, positive energy to rooms.  Two, keep them healthy and trimmed.  A plant with brown leaves or dead branches has the opposite impact.  Buyers will “feel the love” in a home with fresh plants and flowers.
5. Less is more.  A.K.A. don’t “over-furnitureate” (I made that word up…maybe it will stick and start a trend).  You get the idea.  You’ve been inside homes where people cram all kinds of furniture into rooms and they either don’t match or make a room feel small and cramped.  Get rid of old, beat up furniture and don’t overload a room with chairs and couches and tables.  Furthermore, look up “feng shui” in the yellow pages and have someone come to your home.  The spacing out of furniture in a room is no hocus pocus; a perfectly spaced room will bring inviting energy into it and attract buyers to it.  They’ll feel at home. 

 

Buyers have too many choices today.  You can’t give them a reason to cross your home off their list.  Selling is strategic.  By looking after the 5 critical details above, you are giving buyers peace of mind.  Buyers walk into a house and look for reasons to give your home the axe.  When they see details looked after, they think “boy, if the owner takes care of closets and corners, then I’m sure the expensive stuff like roofs, and plumbing and electrical and appliances are in great shape too…I feel safe here.”  And if you’ve got your buyers thinking those thoughts, start packing.