When preparing to sell a home, homeowners first should enlist the aid of an experienced real estate agent. The professional knowledge will be a valuable asset throughout the sale process. “Walk through your home with your real estate agent and objectively critique your home’s shortcomings,” says Andrew Heath of RE/MAX Realty Group in Marietta. “By identifying your home’s rough spots, you can address them before your home goes on the market and eliminate them as a source of ammunition to be used against you in negotiations on price.”

It’s the little things
In most cases, these rough spots tend to be surface issues. “Homeowners should pay a lot of attention to cosmetic issues when selling a home,” says Kay Evans, co-owner and regional director for the Southeast region of Keller Williams Realty in Atlanta. These range from peeling paint and dingy or torn carpet to overgrown lawns and crowded closets. Basically, homeowners should clean up their property and put a shine on it.

“Begin by cleaning the glass in all the windows and doors,” Heath says. “Paint any worn or dirty surfaces. Nail down that loose step, and replace that warped board on your deck. Clean your home thoroughly, removing all the cobwebs in the corners, dusting the furniture, scrubbing the mold and mildew off the tile, etc. Remove any clutter from your garage or elsewhere in your home. Consider renting a storage unit to temporarily store all but the minimum amount of furniture, the clutter from the basement, your scrapbooking supplies, etc.”

Another preparation necessity is eliminating pet odors and keeping trash containers empty. “Make sure the house smells nice,” says Edward Amaya of Prudential Georgia Realty in Woodstock. “If it smells, it won’t sell.”

What you see is what you get
Reducing clutter throughout the house and keeping the rooms looking clean and neat improve the overall appearance of the entire space. “All that stuff fills your house and makes it seem small and inadequate,” Heath says. “Your potential buyer cannot begin the emotional process of visualizing themselves and their furniture in your home because they cannot see the walls or even get in some rooms because of all the junk.”

Helping potential buyers visualize themselves in the home is key to a sale. Homeowners can do their part to help perspective buyers picture themselves in the house. “Depersonalize it by taking down personal photos, except maybe cute kid photos,” Amaya says. “Replace them with other types of art. Box up the majority of your knickknacks.”

No fixer-uppers
If home maintenance has been neglected for a while, hiring a professional home inspector may be a good idea. “Consider hiring a home inspector to inspect your home and provide you with a written report detailing your home’s current condition and its deficiencies,” Heath says. “Your home may have problems you did not even know about.”

Since it has become a common practice for buyers to hire inspectors before purchasing a home, this procedure may help prevent unexpected surprises during sale negotiations. “A seller may find a buyer who writes a contract on the property only to find that the inspection report creates some problem areas, and then they are back in the negotiating mode,” Evans says. “Inspectors are like all people. They form first impressions, so paying attention to cracks, professionally cleaning and servicing HVAC units, and repairing drippy faucets, broken tiles, drainage areas and water stains will typically pay off for the homeowner.”

Put money where it matters
While many homeowners are under the impression that preparing their home for sale is costly, the experts say the best improvements can be the least expensive ones. “Spend a few dollars to spruce up your front yard,” Amaya says. “Curb appeal, curb appeal, curb appeal! You want the front yard to want them to come into the house.” He recommends putting fresh pine straw in flowerbeds and placing potted plants near the front door. Amaya also recommends pressure-washing the driveway and front walkway. “It really makes the house stand out because it looks cleaner,” he says.

However, be prepared to spend the money for necessary improvements. “Sometimes making improvements will be the difference in a sale, period,” Evans says. “The better question is, ‘How much will it cost the homeowner who doesn’t make the improvements?’ People will make really low offers if cosmetics are not made and then, when the inspection report reveals problems because of deferred maintenance, the sale may fall apart. Typically, cosmetic improvements are recoverable at a high ratio.”

Stay neutral
When Jack and Jo Anne Pierce of Kennesaw decided to sell their house, they began working with Amaya on getting the property ready for the market. “We were advised to try to make our home seem desirable to the majority of buyers,” Jo Anne Pierce says. “This entailed depersonalizing our living space (putting away family pictures), neutralizing our existing paint colors and completing any necessary repairs.”

The Pierces repainted their home inside and out, replaced their carpet, cleaned their front and back yards, and planted new annuals. Most of the work was done on weekends, so this process took approximately two months to complete. They also received a checklist of things to do when preparing to show the house. “When we first met with our real estate agent, he gave us a full sheet of things that we needed to do to prepare,” Jo Anne says. “I was a little overwhelmed at first, so we tackled the problems one at a time. Some things were very simple to accomplish, such as playing jazz or classical music while the house was being shown, or setting our air conditioner to 75 degrees.”

Success in the sale
Amaya’s advice and the Pierces’ hard work paid off. “Our home showed the first day we put the ‘For Sale’ sign in our yard, three days before it was officially advertised as being for sale,” Jo Anne says. “We received our first of several offers just two weeks after that.”

Jo Anne willingly shares the lessons she learned with other homeowners. “First and foremost, get advice from a professional that you can trust, someone who knows the current market and what people are looking for,” she says. “Second, after your house goes on the market, try to keep it ready to show at any moment, because you never know when someone will show up to look. Third, as our agent told me on several occasions, ‘The way you live in your home and the way you sell your home, are two completely different approaches.’ You want to try to portray a ‘model home’ type of appearance; it should look homey and inviting without looking like it belongs to anyone specifically.”