Keeping It Realtor Ready!

3 ways to keep your home Realtor® ready

If you’re the type of person who can keep a house neat and spotless 24/7, hats off to you! For the rest of us, living in a home that’s on the market (and might be shown at a moment’s notice) can be a challenge. Luckily, once you’ve taken all the major steps to declutter, clean and repair your home for sale, there are a few simple strategies you can use to keep it looking its best for buyers.


1) Make a list of your hotspots—the parts of your home that are hardest to keep clean and most noticeable. Some examples might be dishes in the kitchen sink, wet towels in the bathrooms, unmade beds, pet messes, kids’ toys, or mail on the dinner table.
 
Each morning before you leave home, or any time you get a call to warn you of a showing, pull out your list and spend a few minutes tackling those problem areas. For super short-notice showings, be ready to bundle clutter into a laundry basket or storage tub and take it with you in your car.


At the end of the list, add these often-overlooked items if they apply to you:

• Take out the trash
• Close toilet lids (parents: flush if needed!)
• Open drapes/blinds to let in light
• Turn on lights (if showing will happen soon)
• Turn off TVs
• Open interior doors to invite exploration
• Make sure your key is in the lock box
• Take pets with you (or kennel them)
• Put away personal info, such as bills or statements
• Set the thermostat to a comfortable temperature (especially if you’ve programmed it to save on heating or cooling when the home is unoccupied)

2) Build a quick-cleaning kit. Move from room to room faster with a portable kit of cleaning essentials, like:

• Rubber gloves
• A duster or dust cloth
• Stain-erasing pads
• Disinfectant wipes
• Wood and stainless-steel polishing wipes
• Glass wipes
• Spray mop
• Dustpan and whisk broom
• Lint brush (for pet hair on upholstery or drapes)

Why wipes? Besides the obvious advantage of a lighter, smaller cleaning kit, wipes could also help you minimize harsh chemical smells, since you’re not spraying the cleaner into the air and you won’t leave a fragrant pile of cleaning rags in the laundry. Alternatively, you could choose low-odor cleaners, or cleaners with a pleasing scent.

 3) Ask for help (and make it easy for people to help you). If you’re not the only person living in your home, you shouldn’t be the only person trying to keep it clean. Goodness knows, you’re not the only one creating the mess! Give your housemates, spouse and/or children helpful daily tasks and provide the tools they’ll need to get their jobs done. For example, set aside a basket for each child to fill with their toys or other clutter, a tasteful box for unsorted mail, ample hampers for linens, etc.

 

9 Easy Ideas to Help Sell Your Home

If you’re determined to sell your home fast, there are frugal home staging ideas that you can do right now. These ideas we will share with you are home staging tips that everyone can apply if they want to, on their own within a very limited time, without breaking the bank.
The goal here is to make your home look squeaky clean, big, and attractive for a faster sale in a matter of days.
Here are 9 inexpensive ways on how to stage your home fast and cheap.

1.  Paint in Neutral tones
 Paint should be on top of your list because this helps you set the mood and theme of any given room. Use light, neutral colors that would be appealing to most. Neutral colors do not only make a room brighter, but also provides a blank canvas that a potential buyer can play with. You can hire someone to do this for you, but if you have the time and the skills, it’ll save you a few hundred dollars.

 

2.  Declutter and depersonalize
 Get rid of your personal stuff. Allow home buyers to imagine themselves living in your house so our pro tip is to declutter your books, pictures, knickknacks, and anything else that is a personal reflection of you. Think of this as a pre-pack before the big move!

3.  Clean your light bulbs and update light fixtures
Sometimes, you don’t have to replace your light bulbs at all. Try wiping the dust off first and see if they still have some of the brand-new type of brightness in them. However, it is also essential to make every corner of your home lighted, so light fixtures like table lamps, floor lamps, and even battery-operated candles are amazing additions to make the house look brighter. Lots of light makes any space look and feel bigger and brighter!

4.  Set the scene by dressing the table
When staging, pay attention to your kitchen. It’s one of those rooms in the house that makes the sale. Is your table set? If not, you can do so….at the very least there should be an amazing centerpiece on the table. Otherwise, it will look boring and less interesting to look at.  A large dining room table looks warm and welcoming with place settings, candles etc....for a smaller eat-in kitchen a simple plant or fruit bowl can do the trick.

 

5.  Add mirrors, strategically
This is another effective tip to make your home look larger. They don’t have to be really expensive. If you can only afford second hand, then by all means. Just make sure that they are in pristine condition and that they don’t have cracks in them. Mirrors do wonders in smaller areas like entry ways or smaller bedrooms.  Also take a look at the mirrors in your bathroom, do they look dated?  a framed mirror in a bathroom has a customized look which make the bathrooms look expensive

6.  Transform your bathroom into a spa
We recommend buying solid white towels and shower curtains, cream and white tones look clean and lush. These are inexpensive and they can make a huge difference. See if you can also throw in a few luxury soaps, bath oils, and candles on the side of the tub or on top of the sink to capture that spa-like atmosphere. some fresh towels rolled in the tub corner or on the towel rack add some luxurious texture too

7.  Keep Furniture Proportional to the space
Too much furniture can overcrowd a room. It can make the space look smaller and hard to move around. When placing furniture, think minimalist.  It is better if a buyer starts talking (or visualizing) bigger items in the room instead of smaller, this makes them think the rooms are larger which is what most buyers want.

8.  Clean like you have never cleaned before.....
Clean, scrub, sweep, repeat! Then do it over again until it shines. Make the place sparkle! By maintaining a clean, staged house, buyers will notice that and they’ll be impressed to know that you take care of the place very well. also keep your eye open for any small repairs, those should be taken care of too

9.  Don't forget the curb appeal
Most often than not, people tend to focus on the inside and forget that the first thing home buyers will see is the front yard. Make sure that it is cleaned and trimmed. Remove dead branches, replace withered plants, and add some decorative pots if you can. and in the cooler months, sweep or shovel the walkway and driveway and try to create an inviting first impression perhaps a wreath....

The 5 F-words of home staging

In order to make sense of staging your home for sale, follow the 5 F-words of home staging.

1 - FLOORING

Hardwood flooring is the most popular and therefore the best option for your flooring choice. The floors are beautiful, they add warmth, value and are preferred especially with the increase of allergens in the home - hardwood is much easier to clean. Have as few types of flooring as possible in one home, as multiple materials can make a home look small and choppy.

2 - FOCAL POINT

Create a focal point in each room such as a fireplace, a bay window. Make sure the focal point in obvious and highlighted for the buyer to see. this is where staging and furniture placement really work in your favour. As the owner of the home, circulate and take notes of what you feel are the best features/focal points of each room - this can really help your stager, since you bought this home you probably fell in love with some of the features.

3 - FUNCTION

Make sure the function of each room is clear. If the space is not defined, buyers are left wondering what to do with a certain room. Doubling up functions of a room is not always recommended but in smaller spaces it is often necessary but again be clear, if the room is a sitting room plus an office make the room tidy and organized so the buyers can tell it apart from a catch-all space. For example, in a open concept place an area rug in the living room can help to define the living room apart from the dining room without building walls and blocking the flow

4 - FLOW

The house must have good flow in order to attract an offer. You can achieve this through paint (keep each room more or less in the same colour palette). Other tips - allow 3 feet for pathways in and out of a room; chairs and sofas should be no more than 8 feet apart and allow 18 inches between sofa and coffee table. These tips helps create a free flowing space with good energy and a space that feels large but still inviting.

5 - FURNITURE PLACEMENT

Make sure the furniture highlights the room's best features and doesn't obstruct or cramp a room. Look at the room and pay attention to features such as the dining room fixture, it will tell you where to place the table. Create conversation groupings no larger than 10-12 feet square. Create a focal point such as a tall vase by the fireplace or pillows in the window seat. An appointment with a home stager can help you put together a great furniture plan offering flow and presentation to buyers