CHAPTER 6
GET BUYERS OFF THE FENCE IN 8 SECONDS Buyers decide in the first eight seconds of seeing a home whether they are interested in it. That is why it is so important to stage it. You can hire someone to do much of the hard work, but some things you can handle yourself. MAKE IT SPOTLESS It is vital to do a thorough, deep cleaning of your home. It works for people selling a car (they get more money), and it will work for you on a bigger scale when selling your home. For a good deep cleaning, you should do the following: Declutter: Begin with decluttering. As a standard, go through your home and get rid of 50% of your belongings. Highly personalized items, photographs, out-of-season clothes, random junk and excessive furniture need to go. To be clear, you do not have to throw the stuff out! Donate it. Sell it at a yard sale. Give it away. Someone can use what you don’t need. Put precious items, such as family photos, into a safe or offsite storage. Once you declutter, you will be amazed how much roomier and nicer your home feels. The goal is to de-personalize the home so potential buyers can envision themselves living there. Hard-core Cleaning: Now that the clutter is gone, move on to hardcore cleaning. Be meticulous. Tidy each room from top to bottom. DON’T FORGET TO: ; Get rid of cobwebs first. This keeps you from getting dust bunnies all over freshly cleaned floors and furniture.
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