Our Blog

prep your house for a spring listing - therightwans.com

Prepare Your House To List This Spring

While 2015 was a banner year for the Ontario housing market, the trend is expected to continue into 2016 – good news for those homeowners looking to sell!

Those in the know know that the best time of year to list your house for sale is spring. Why? After a long, cold winter, with gardens in fresh bloom and the green leaves returning to trees, your home is at its most appealing, and the warmer weather tends to help put buyers in high spirits.

If you’re planning on taking advantage of the housing market’s busiest season, here are a few tips to get your home in order for a spring listing:

Get Packing
We know all to well how easy it is to let life get in the way, but when it comes to prepping your house, don’t wait until the last minute to get the heavy lifting done. If all goes according to plan, you’ll be moving in the next few months and now is the perfect time (as good a time as any, anyway) to start packing up those things you don’t use or won’t need for a while. Sort through the attic, tool sheds, closets, basement and garage and start the process of boxing up and giving away. The benefit of starting your packing well in advance means you’ll have less to do in the weeks leading up to your move, but your space will look larger and neater when it comes time to show your home. It will also give you a good idea whether you’ll need to rent storage space for bulky or large boxes or items you’ll need to get out of the way during viewings.

Clear The Clutter
We can’t stress enough the importance of a clear, uncluttered house during a viewing – a stack of magazines or a litter of toys may make your home looked loved and lived in, but clutter and the bric-à-brac of your daily life make it difficult for prospective buyers to envision themselves living in the space. Take the time over the cooler winter months to tackle that pile of unpaid bills, dust your shelves, and pack away the family photos or extra clutter on the kitchen counter.

Get Organized
Storage space is a major selling point in any home, but even if your home is full to overflowing with closets and storage, if those spaces are full to overflowing with stuff, buyers will interpret it as a sign that there isn’t enough storage space, period. Pick up a few boxes, dividers or spend an afternoon on Pinterest searching out creative ways to upgrade your organization (without spending a dime). Getting organized goes hand in hand with clearing out clutter and starting to pack early. Pitch what you don’t need and pack what you want to keep but don’t use on a daily basis (or monthly basis, if that’s the case).

Do Your Honey-Do List
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Sage advice. It’s time to tackle that “to do” list that’s been hanging over your head. A savvy buyer is on the lookout for the little things – a loose tile, leaking pipes, a shredded shingle, even unclean eavestroughs and cracked driveways. Set aside an evening or a weekend to fix the little things you’ve been meaning to fix yourself, or bring in a professional to help get the job done.

Research The Market
You won’t expect prospective buyers to walk into your home without a little knowledge of what they’re looking for and how much they’re willing to spend, so don’t expect to put your house on the market without knowing how much its worth and how fast it’s going to sell, etc.

Are you buying another home? You’ll want to know whether you should sell first or if you can make an offer on another house before putting yours on the market.

Here’s where a knowledgeable realtor comes in. Realtors have access to up-to-date industry information and will help you evaluate the present market, how fast homes are selling (and for how much), and how long it will take for you to find the right new home. Along with offering great advice on upgrades and little fixes to make to your home before putting it on the market, a realtor will also help you set a fair listing price, and make sure you get what you’re asking for, or close to it. Looking for a realtor in the Richmond Hill area? We’re The Right Wan’s for the job – contact us today!

This entry was posted in Selling and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.