Getting Your Madison Home Ready to Sell

Every detail counts!

First impressions are everything. When you are selling your Madison WI home you have control over an important selling factor – condition. Here is a list of important improvements and staging tips that can make a HUGE difference in capturing a buyer’s interest and getting you top dollar! 

Paint

Some homes have too much color or wild colors and need to be neutralized. Some homes are too stark with white walls everywhere. Give rooms some color. Touch up paint. Make the home move in ready.

Light fixtures

Outdated light fixtures give the buyers a perception that the home needs to be updated and create the impression that bigger items like the roof and furnace may also need updating. Spending $50 – $300 updating light fixtures is a smart move.

Kitchen and bathroom hardware

Changing the knobs and handles on cabinets and drawers can make an older kitchen newer without having to replace cabinets.

Clean, Clean, Clean

A deep cleaning will make the home sparkle. Be sure to clean cobwebs in the basement, high ceiling corners and around the mechanical equipment.

Pack and organize

You are moving so don’t wait until the last minute to start packing. If you start moving things to a storage area now (or create an organized space in the basement, garage or storage shed) and de-clutter your home, it will look bigger and feel more spacious to prospective buyers. No one can do this for you so if you are overwhelmed with what to spend time and money on, hire out the repairs and cleaning and spend your time packing and organizing your home.

Remove big pieces of furniture

Again, the goal is to make the home feel bigger and spacious.

Replace Appliances

Buyers see new kitchen appliances and are immediately wowed. It is always nice to have a new water heater, but a new refrigerator and stove is a better buy if you are trying to capture a buyer’s interest.

Landscaping

The curb appeal is a huge aspect to the emotional draw for buyers. There are times a buyer is scheduled to see a home and when they drive up to the showing they decide they don’t even want to go in.

Window coverings

Updating window coverings with simple curtains can warm up the room and soften a vacant home.

New flooring

Sometimes it seems it would be easier to replace the carpeting after you’ve moved out but the initial reaction of old and stained carpet or ancient vinyl flooring can be a big turnoff for buyers. If you can’t replace the carpet at least let the buyers know in writing when they come to the home that you are willing to replace the carpet or get the carpets professionally cleaned  prior to close or provide a credit for new carpet. Changing vinyl flooring in kitchens and bathrooms can make a big difference and is worth looking into.

Staging

Talk to us about help with staging your home using our services or local experts that provide accent pieces, wall hangings and even furniture to dress up your home. Here is a great blog post about Green Designs in helping you sell.

Maintenance checkups

Have the furnace cleaned and checked, the air conditioner, fireplace/chimney and have a plumber come over and repair any leaky faucets or loose toilets (here is a list of our preferred vendors). Providing the potential buyers with these reports and receipts of a well maintained house will go a long way.

It may feel like a lot of work and even a substantial amount of money to prepare your home to sell it. However, if you put your home on the market for $250,000 and you are getting showings but no offers, you are getting feedback from the market. 

The three most important factors in selling your home are:

• Price
• Location
• Condition

Of those three factors, what do you have control over? Price and Condition. So if you aren’t getting any offers you now have a couple of options: one is to lower your price. Most likely your next price adjustment will be a minimum of $5,000. But it may mean changing the price to $240,000 (a $10,000 adjustment). Consider keeping your home at $250,000 and investing $3,000 into improvements and you’ll make more money and your house will sell quicker! 

When you first think about spending $3,000 to sell your house it sounds like a lot doesn’t it? But when you think of lowering the price from $250,000 to $245,000 because you haven’t had any offers and your house has been on the market for 60 days that seems reasonable. 

Of course it is all perception. I challenge you to consider this perception when thinking about properly preparing your home for current market conditions. 

It is never to soon to call Sara Alvarado when you are thinking about selling your home. Call 608.438.5005 or email Sara@TheAlvaradoGroup.com.