First Impressions are Lasting Impressions.

The exterior of your home often determines how buyers will view the interior, so

Make sure your front entrance is clean and inviting.

Paint or replace your front door if it's faded or worn.

Add some paint to shutters, trim, and any other outside features showing signs of wear.

Add vibrant plants and put down some fresh mulch.

Accentuate the Positive

"How we live in a home and how we sell a home are often two different things." Try to see your home with a fresh perspective and arrange each room to bring out its best attributes, including:

Keep windows and floors clean.

Replace faded wallpaper and glue any areas that have come away from the wall.

Repair worn woodwork.
Repaint scarred or dirty walls in a neutral color.

Steam clean carpeting or replace it, if necessary.
Repair loose knobs, sticking doors and windows, warped cabinet drawers, broken light switches, and other minor flaws.

Check and repair caulking in bathtubs and showers.

Try to see your home with a fresh perspective and arrange each room to bring out its best attributes, including

Open draperies and curtains to let the light in during the showing.

Remove all unnecessary clutter from your attic, basement, and closets to better display spacious rooms (consider storage or a garage sale to dispose of extraneous items).

Arrange all your rooms neatly and remove excess furniture. Keep fresh, clean towels in the bathroom.

Use candles or air fresheners to make the room smell pleasant.

Put Your Home in the Best Possible Light

Strategically lighting your home, even during daytime showings, can create a cozy mood and highlight positive attributes of each room, so:

Avoid the use of overhead lighting that makes rooms look washed out and lifeless.

Be creative and arrange lamps to help smaller rooms seem larger, and large rooms seem more intimate.

Use lighting to highlight the "living areas" of your home, such as a pair of chairs near a fireplace, or a table in a breakfast area.

Inside

Clear all unnecessary objects from furniture throughout the house. Keep decorative objects on the furniture restricted to groups of 1, 3, or 5 items.

Clear all unnecessary objects from the kitchen countertops. If it hasn't been used for three months…put it away!

Clear refrigerator fronts of messages, pictures, etc. (A sparse kitchen helps buyers mentally move their own things into your kitchen.)

In the bathroom, remove any unnecessary items from countertops, tubs, shower stalls, and commode tops. Keep only your most needed cosmetics, brushes, perfumes, etc., in one small group on the counter.

Coordinate towels to one or two colors only.

Rearrange or remove some of the furniture if necessary. As owners, many times we have too much furniture in a room. This is wonderful for our personal enjoyment, but when it comes to selling, we need to thin out as much as possible to make rooms appear larger.