So You Want to Sell Your Home - Lucky Part 13 - What's Cooking in the Kitchen?

A few posts ago I provided a list of how buyers prioritize the areas of the home they are viewing. After the curb appeal and the entryway, the most important area is the kitchen.

Today's kitchen is not longer the sole domain of the woman. More and more men are spending time in the kitchen doing the cooking. In my home I prepare most of the meals, although I do admit, my wife does most of the cleaning. Men don't just grill anymore, we bake, we steam, we souffle, we cook!

What does that mean? It means the kitchen now has to appeal functionally and attractive to buyers of both genders. The counters have to appear spacious, the cabinets accessible with a lot of storage, the lighting bright, and overall, movement between prep area to cooking area to serving area clear and uncluttered.

So what are the steps to making your kitchen appealing?

• Clean your kitchen until it shines - every square inch of it, paying special attention to the stove, oven, sink, counters, floor and refrigerator.
• Take care of any maintenance issues, fix your leaky faucets, replace faulty burners, replace burned out light bulbs. Make sure your drawers and cabinets open easily and without squeaks. Replace broken or worn drawer and cabinet pulls. Make sure any exhaust fans, as well as built in appliances, such as disposal, are all in working order.
• Empty the kitchen counter surfaces of all but the most often used and needed items. The more open counter space the more appealing the kitchen.
• Empty your cabinets and only return items that you use regularly. If you have place settings for 12 but only use 4, put at least 6 in storage. Put seasonal items, like Thanksgiving platters into storage until needed. Get rid of items that you don't use (like that second toaster) or put them into storage.
• Clean out your refrigerator and pantry. Get rid of old out dated foods. In the refrigerator, get rid of any fuzzy "science projects". Make sure the shelves and surfaces are clean. Keep only enough food for a couple of days in both the refrigerator and the pantry. Keep an open box of baking soda in an inconspicuous place in your refrigerator. And don't forget to take all those post its off of the refrigerator door.
  
• Wash your dishes after every meal. Ok, this one might be tough, but dirty dishes in the sink detracts from the perception of the kitchen. Even if you have a dishwasher, rinse the dishes well before placing them inside of it. You don't want any food smells when someone opens the dishwasher door. Wash your dishes daily in the dishwasher.
• Clean out under the sink. Get rid of cleaners, chemicals and everything else that you store under the sink but don't use regularly. You don't want to remind anyone that your gleaming kitchen takes work to keep it that way. Make sure that you clean under there also.
• Paint your walls. Even if it means removing wallpaper. Wallpaper is an even more personal selection than paint and if a buyer sees that he or she will need to remove wallpaper it may tilt the balance against your kitchen. Use a neutral color.
• Display flowers and fresh fruit, but don't over do it. And the key word is fresh, for both the flowers and the fruit.
• Oh-Oh that smell. Be careful what you cook while your home is for sale. Many foods leave odors, even if you have gotten used to them. If you like bacon, you may be better off getting it somewhere like Denny's. Bacon and other foods can leave lingering aromas that can and do turn some people off.
• You can feed Fido but don't leave any evidence of it. Put away the water and food dishes for your pets. They make both a trip and spill hazard.
  

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? But it really isn't and, you will like like the results when your home sells faster because you have taken care to present the most important (to the buyer) room in house in the best manner possible. Best of luck.

For information on buying or selling your home in Athens GA and the surrounding areas, call me at 706-207-5290 or click here to email me. You can visit my website, The Athens Real Estate Page to search for homes and land in and around Athens.

So You want to Sell Your Home - Part 11 - Too Much Stuff

How much stuff do you have? If you have been living in your home for any length of time, the answer is probably "too much stuff".

Stuff, no matter what it is: furniture, pictures, appliances, toys, knick-knacks, clothes, etc., only distracts the potential buyer who is previewing your home. The buyer(s) want to picture the home as theirs, not yours. They are trying to see themselves living there. They are placing their furniture in the rooms, their pictures on the walls, their children in the yard, etc. The more "stuff" you have, the harder it is for them to picture their "stuff".

You need to minimize your stuff, or, declutter! That doesn't mean getting rid of everything and living in a bare house. It does mean getting rid of what you don't need to live there.

Start with the small things. Look in your closets to see what is there. Depending upon where your home is you might have four seasons of clothing in your closet. Pack up those clothes that will not be needed in the next few months. If your closets are still overfull, pick out the shoes, shirts, coats, etc. that you will be using. Try spacing your hanging clothes at least 3 fingers apart. If you have shelves in your closet, make small stacks of clothing, and don't crowd them together. Give the feeling of more space rather than less.

Clear your counter tops. In the kitchen limit your counter top appliances to a coffee pot. Place all your other appliances out of the way. Reduce the amount of dishes, pots, pans, etc. in your cabinets. Make them appear roomy. In the bathroom, do the same thing. Reduce what you keep on the counters and clear out those things from the cabinets that your don't regularly use.

Remove most, if not all, of your collectible items from view. This may include display cabinets and curio shelves that you have put in place just to display what you have collected. It allows the buyers to picture there items.

Get rid of pictures. Free up your walls as much as possible. One or two strategically placed pictures in a room are fine, recommended even. But don't have picture walls, especially those picture walls loaded with your family history. Some even suggest getting rid of all pictures of a personal nature. And, if you have pictures, be careful of the content. Risque, religious, political, and other pictures might distract the buyers, and even cause some to reject the home outright. We have a couple of Louis Icart prints, tasteful, but they might be offensive to some. We took them down when we sold our homes since having them.

Do you have too much furniture? Many of us do, at least for certain rooms. Get rid of excess furniture. And what is excess furniture? Any furniture that makes a room look crowded is too much furniture. It also might be that your furniture is over-sized for a room. You might consider temporarily replacing it.

Garages, basements, storage areas: While you may be able to store some of you stuff in these areas, do not fill them up. Make sure that cars can be parked in the garage. Keep your "stuff" from the middle of any of these locations.

What can I do with that excess stuff? There are many options. You can get a storage unit and store your things there. If you are storing a lot of books, or other delicate items, a climate controlled storage unit might be appropriate. Just remember, though, that for items you might need, such as clothing when a season changes, to place boxes, trunks, etc. so that they are easily accessible.

You can give items away, to friends, family or donate them to charity. You can sell items on Ebay or have a yard/garage sale. There are many ways to get your stuff out of the way.

Remember, you are trying to sell your home, not your stuff. The less stuff buyers see, the more of your home that they see. Whether you are using an agent, or trying to sell your home on your own, when it comes to "stuff", less is more!

For more information on getting your home ready to sell, or for any other real estate concern, call me at 706-207-5290 or you can email me with your information request.

So You Want to Sell Your Home - Part 10 - First Impressions are Everything

What is the first thing people see when they come to look at your home? Your yard and other exterior features, of course. They see you lawn, your mailbox, your driveway, your plants and trees. They see the outside of your house.

The home buyer experience starts when the buyer(s) first see the property. If what they see isn't appealing enough to coax the potential buyer to leave the car, it doesn't matter what the inside of the home is like (unless the buyer's agent really knows the home and is can persuasively present a case for it). And even if the buyer(s) go in to look at the interior, they already have had their expectations set for poor maintenance and possible hidden problems. They will take a closer look at the interior, expecting to find problems, sometimes imagining them, that will discourage an offer.

Start from the street and look back at house. Are they shrubs that need trimming that obscure the view of the home? Does the lawn need mowing and weeding, or even re-seeding? Are there dead trees and shrubs that need to be removed? Are there fallen leaves that need raking.

How does the house look? Does it need painting? Are the gutters or shutters sagging? Is the driveway in good repair? Is pressure washing needed? How does that roof and chimney look? Pay close attention to door and window jams and thresholds. Are they mildewed? If so clean them up. Are there signs of dry rot or water damage? If so, have them repaired. Do they need painting? Go ahead and paint them.

Once everything is in good repair, add some inviting features. Place annuals around the mailbox, plant some shrubs, put annuals along walkways, mulch any flower beds, place flowers around the entrance. Provide some color and a cheery perception. Perception is everything with a buyer when they are looking.

The important thing, set the buyer's expectations. A well presented exterior makes a positive impression. It encourages the buyer to view the interior more positively. And, it increases the potential for both an offer and the amount of the offer.

First impressions, if they are very good, are an important step in getting from For Sale to Sold!

So You Want to Sell Your Home - Part 8 - Standing Out From the Competition!

In previous posts I have emphasized that price is the number one issue in getting a home sold. However, what that really means is that the price must reflect the condition of the home being sold.

Real estate buyers, especially in today's market, look very closely at price and condition. Buyers believe that what they see is what they get and what they see determines what they are willing to pay for the home.

Buyers typically prioritize, whether consciously or not, a home in this order:

1. Curb appeal
2. Entryway
3. Kitchen
4. Master Bedroom & Bath
5. Living Areas
6. Other Bedrooms
7. Backyard

Curb appeal, believe it or not, has a major impact on how the buyer(s) view the rest of the house. It is the first thing they see when they approach your property. It sets not only expectation, but also the perception of how they view the remainder of the home.

In future posts, we will discuss how we can address curb appeal, as well as the remaining six priorities of the buyer, following the staging formula of 3P - 2F:

• plantings
• paint
• pictures
• fixtures
• furnishings

For information on getting your home ready to sell or for a copy of my 99 Tips for Getting Your Home Ready to Sell, call me at 706-207-5290 or click here to send me an email request.