If little things mean a lot in matters of the heart, they mean even more when you’re trying to sell your house. The way you present your property to prospective buyers can make all the difference between success and failure. Intangibles often help a sale – the way the light reflects off a gleaming oak table in a bay window can make buyers realize what they wanted all along was a house with a bay window.

Whether or not you choose to use a Home Stager you will want to show your home to its very best advantage. There are a lot of easy, inexpensive ways to put a shine on it and enhance its over-all desirability. Here are some easy-to-do suggestions.

Curb Appeal

This is the impression buyers get when they first drive up to your house, and that first look is all important. If prospective buyers don’t find your house appealing, they won’t be interested in seeing what’s inside.

How can you turn that initial impression into love at first sight? Trimmed shrubbery and mowed lawns are as important as windows so clean they positively sparkle. If your house could use a paint job and you don’t have the time or money to do it right away, sometimes repainting the trim will update the entire facade. Or, try painting just the side that can be seen from the street.

Also, clean and repair gutters, power wash siding, and when you show the house add fresh mulch or flowers.

You don’t want to lead your buyers up the garden path, but you do want to get them to the front door, so the walkway should be as attractive as possible. Seasonal plantings can do a lot to zip up the look of the approach and, even if you’re not an enthusiastic gardener, it’s not difficult to add a row of annuals on each side of the walkway.

The Basics

Deep clean and declutter: Thoroughly clean your home, including carpets, windows, and hard-to-reach areas. Remove clutter, excess furniture, and personal items to create a spacious and inviting environment.

Make necessary repairs: Address any visible damage or maintenance issues, such as leaky faucets, broken fixtures, or chipped paint. This will give buyers confidence that the home has been well-maintained.

Neutralize the decor: Repaint walls in neutral colors to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Neutral colors help potential buyers envision themselves living in the space more easily.

Update lighting: Ensure your home is well-lit, both inside and out. Replace any outdated fixtures and use bright white bulbs to create a brighter, more inviting space.

Optimize storage space: Organize closets and storage areas to give the impression of ample storage. Buyers often prioritize storage when looking for a new home.

Eliminate odors: Address any unpleasant odors, such as pet or cooking smells, by cleaning carpets, upholstery, and curtains. Use air fresheners or scented candles sparingly, as some buyers may be sensitive to strong fragrances.

Showcase outdoor living areas: Clean and stage patios, decks, and other outdoor spaces to emphasize their usability and appeal.

Next Step: Tidy Up

Everyone knows, of course, that neatness counts, both inside and out. Gardening equipment and tools should be put away and hoses neatly coiled. It’s also helpful to park your cars in your garage or somewhere down the street rather than leaving them in the driveway.

If someone in the family is working on a car, or a bike, or boat outside, this is the time to be ruthless. Insist that it has to go out of sight, or off the property.

Inside, everything should be spotless. If you can afford it, this is the time to hire someone to do what used to be called spring cleaning – a heavy-duty overhaul of all the nooks and crannies.

Then go through every room using “less is more” as your guideline. You want to make every room look as spacious as possible, and with that end in mind, remove as much furniture as you can – that extra rocker, footstool, or table.
Check each room in the house for hazards. Make sure all extension cords are out of sight and remove any potentially slippery throw rugs. Incidentally, it never helps to put a rug over a spot in the carpet; all that does is call attention to the problem. Better yet, replace the stained carpet with a new, inexpensive one that will make a room look like a million bucks.

Also, now’s the time to pack away a lot of that bric-a-brac that seems to accumulate, to sort through your magazines and get rid of those you don’t want to keep, to throw out those old throw pillows that have gotten a little tired.

Take a good look at your kitchen counters, too, and weed out everything you absolutely don’t have to use every day. Everything else should go into the cupboard.

Kitchen and Bath Appeal

Buyers react most strongly to kitchens, closets, and bathrooms, so it pays to concentrate your efforts in these areas. If you feel your kitchen cabinets aren’t as up to date as you’d like them to be, sometimes just switching knobs and door handles is a dramatic improvement.

To enhance the atmosphere in your kitchen and make the prospective buyer feel like a welcome guest, use the subliminal appeal of warm and friendly scents, such as the smell of bread baking in the oven. Some people swear by ready-to-bake cinnamon rolls for maximum effect.

Any kind of potpourri will help, too, and the simmering kind seems to be particularly effective.

New shower curtains for every bathroom in the house are a must before you start to show it. Tired, streaky shower curtains are a real turnoff. If you can afford it, buy a set of coordinating towels for each bath as well. Keep this new set for show only and tuck them away the minute prospective buyers leave.

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Little Details

Indoors, plants and flowers are as effective as they are outside. Plan on using them as much as possible to dress up several rooms in your home.

If your real estate agent is conducting an open house, you might want to invest in a festive floral arrangement for the occasion, but avoid that kind of formality when you’re seeing one prospective buyer at a time. Instead, consider putting a few long elegant orchids and bits of greenery around the house – a simple vase of daisies or tulips in a bathroom, for example, or a bowl of lilacs in a bedroom. You don’t have to spend a lot on flowers; one bright geranium will go a long way to spark up a room.

Leafy green plants help, too. A word of warning, though. Enthusiastic indoor gardeners love all their growing things and tend to overlook the plant with brown tips or bald patches that ought to be thrown out. If you have plants that aren’t in great shape, find a place to hide them while you’re showing your house. Scruffy plants very easily make any room look messy.

Perfect Timing

Most of the time, your agent will show your house by appointment. But, there will be times when a real estate agent will call and say a client wants to come over right away for a quick look. That is your cue to say, calmly, that the prospective buyer can see the house in an hour or two, giving you enough time for a quick cleanup.

To make a last minute sprucing up easier, buy two-handled baskets, similar to the kind you see in supermarkets. Stack them in a convenient closet and fill the top basket with a hand vacuum, all-purpose spray cleaner, paper towels, and any other cleaning product you like to use. Carry both baskets with you as you move from room to room and collect anything that’s out of place in the second basket. This system is a real time-saver.

If it’s one of those days when the house is a complete disaster, tell the agent the buyer will have to look at it another time. You are doing yourself no favors by showing your home when it’s not at its best.

Even if your dog is your best friend, this is one time when pets shouldn’t be around. Before the prospect arrives, put your pets outside, in a detached garage, or even in pet carriers. Animals know when something’s up, and if there’s ever a time when a pet is going to act up, it’s when a prospective buyer is going through a house. Then, too, however much some of us love our pets, a lot of people don’t – they may even be allergic to them.

Show and Tell

Turn all the lights on when you show your prospect through the house, even if it’s a sunny day. And if the weather is cold or rainy and you have a fireplace, have a fire burning steadily.

As you and your agent go through the house, you may want to point out certain details, i.e., the carved mantel, or parquet floor, but don’t try to sell the place by listing improvements you think would make it look even better. In fact, it’s wise not to be present at all when the agent shows your house. If you are present, remember: If you wait for the buyer to come up with ideas of his own, that’s a good indication he’s beginning to feel possessive and is seriously considering making an offer.

If you follow the suggestions above and a dozen people have walked through without making an offer, the issue is probably not the condition of your home. Instead it is likely the price. But don’t be discouraged because when it is priced right sooner or later someone will walk in the door and decide they love the house. And, you can congratulate yourself because you have made your house look its very best!