Get Your House Ready For Quick Sale
Get Your House Ready
For Quick Sale
If you’re planning to
sell your house this spring, you’re going to have a lot of competition for
potential buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors, more homes
are listed and sold between February and June than any other time of the year;
and 2005 will be the second best year on record for home sales. An estimated
6.54 million existing homes will be sold this year.With so much competition,
what can you do to make someone want to buy your house instead of the one down
the street? “It’s simple really,” says Jerry Ritten, a real estate agent with
Counselor Realty in Minneapolis, Minn. “Make sure it’s clean. When I bring
prospective buyers into a clean home, it’s easy for them to envision themselves
living there. If the house is dirty, the first thing they think about is how
much work would be involved in bringing it up to their standards.”
Tips from Professional Agent: Change your
bathroom sink,
bathroom faucet,
kitchen sink,
kitchen
faucet,
lightning,
and deep cleaning.
Ritten says one of
the biggest mistakes home sellers make is failing to keep their property in
“showing” condition. “When they get a call from their agent, sellers often think
they can just make the beds, clear the counters in the kitchen and bath, vacuum
a little and clean the windows, but a serious buyer is going to do more than
just walk through the home,” he says. “They’ll want to closely examine all the
appliances to make sure they are clean and in working order; to open the closet
doors to see how spacious they are; and to look inside the kitchen cabinets to
see how deep they are. If they are confronted by dirt and grime everywhere they
look, potential buyers often leave without giving the property a second
thought.”
Rather than risk a potential sale, these days many people are hiring
professional cleaning services to get their homes in tip-top shape before they
even hit the market. “People who clean for a living definitely have the edge
when it comes to making a property shine,” says Howard Purdy, vice president of
operations for Maid Brigade, a housecleaning service with more than 365
locations in the United States, Canada and Ireland. He says the company’s “Deep
Clean” service is extremely popular this time of year.
“When we send a team into a
home to do a Deep Clean, they start out with the basics. They vacuum with
commercial grade vacuums that pull the air and dust through HEPA filters. They
also sweep, scrub the floors and toilets, and do things most people don’t have
the time or inclination to do themselves. They will clean and dust the insides
of the kitchen and bathroom cabinets; scrub the oven and refrigerator shelves;
clean the drip pans under the refrigerator; wipe the dust off the ceiling fans,
furniture and television sets; whatever the seller wants and needs to get their
home in top showing condition,” says Purdy.
Once
the Deep Clean is done, Purdy says it’s a good idea to bring the team back
either weekly or bi-weekly -- for as long as the house is on the market -- to
keep things clean. “Home owners don’t need to go out and buy supplies,” says
Purdy. “Our teams bring everything they need with them, and they’re licensed,
bonded and insured which gives people piece of mind.”
In
addition to making sure the home is clean, other ways to improve its “show
ability” include putting new paint on the walls, having the carpet cleaned, and
redoing the landscaping. “I also urge my clients to do all they can to get rid
of clutter,” says Ritten. “Instead of filling the drawers with junk mail and
stuffing things into closets, I urge them to pack up things they don’t need
right away and either move them into the garage, give them away, or throw them
away. Houses that are neat and orderly show better and sell faster than those
that are cluttered and messy.”
To locate the Maid Brigade nearest you, call (800) 881-5901 or log on to
www.800saving.com
posted by miyako_kevin at 10:17 AM
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