“You never get a second chance to make a good first impression”. – Will Rogers,

Although staging can do wonders, two things that may prove even more effective are decluttering and re-painting key areas of your property. While they will take a bit of elbow grease, decluttering and painting will help to neutralize a property and allow buyers to imagine themselves living in your property.

Key tips:

• Curb Appeal: Ensure that the main entrance is clean and in tip-top shape and shrubbery and flowers are well maintained. This is the first area a buyer will see and you want it to be warm, inviting and in good condition.
• Personal Items: Remove family photos and personal property. Remember, you want people to be able to see themselves living in your house.
• Bathrooms and Kitchens: Make them sparkle, these are the two most important rooms that you should make sure are clean and immaculate. Clean, wipe down and organize cupboards. Organizing cupboards is an often overlooked but beneficial task.
• Repair: Holes in walls, dripping faucets or toilets, make sure all doors close properly and the doorstops are in place, doorknobs are working and not loose.
• Remove furniture: Less is more. Store clothes and furniture that you are not using so rooms and closets look more spacious.
• Furniture Flow: Place furniture so that traffic flows easily from room to room and so that the line of vision into each room is not blocked. Consider off site storage or utilizing a storage bin that can be delivered to your home, filled and take away for safe storage.
• Closets and Cabinets: These should not be bulging with your items. You don’t want buyers to think you have small closets. Clean out your closets!
• Painting: Is the cheapest way to give your home a fresh new look. If you have very dark feature walls or unusual paint colours in certain rooms, you should consider re-painting in more neutral colours. The bottom line is to soften and simplify.

-Tanya