The chances are, if you're selling a home, you are going to be buying a home. This article is written as a guide for sellers, but the information presented here actually serves two purposes. First, it will help sellers to prepare their home for sale. Second, it will assist buyers in the way they look at (and inspect) a prospective new home.

Sellers want to sell their homes as quickly as possible, but they also want to get top dollar when they do sell. Both of these goals are served by the seller who prudently invests the necessary resources to properly prepare their home for showing. Of course there's a balance to be struck between the two goals. A home that has been freshly painted, re-roofed, has a new air conditioner, a new swimming pool and a new spa will doubtless sell faster, but will the seller recoup the investment required to accomplish those things? While this example is grossly exaggerated, it makes the need for a balance eminently apparent.

Your best help in preparing your home for sale will come from an experiencedTucson real estate agent. If you've not yet decided on an agent, and you want to determine what might need to be done to make your home more salable, this article (and other parts of this website) is an excellent place to begin.

When you decide that you are going to sell your home, create a file on your computer, and in your home filing cabinet. You want to approach this task like a business. This strategy is necessary to ensure that you maintain the previously mentioned balance between quick sale and optimum profit. The need for this balance will become more and more apparent as you read this, and as you prepare your home for quick, profitable sale.

Of all the senses, humans depend predominately on their sight. Appealing to that sense will be first on our list, followed by smell, and finally sounds. All three will contribute proportionately to a potential buyer's reactions to your home.

Quality sellers of used cars have long known the importance of making modest cosmetic improvements to their inventory. When you visit a good used car lot, all the cars are washed, waxed, have very clean windows, and are parked neatly in tidy rows and columns. It makes a nice first impression. When you get closer, and start to inspect the cars, you notice that the interiors have been fully cleaned and shampooed, as have the engine compartments, and that the car smells good inside. If you pay close attention, you'll see a myriad signs of cosmetic preparation for sale. The tires are blacked and shiny, there are no finger prints on the glass, the mats have been treated, the ashtray is closed and empty, even the chrome on the seat belt harnesses has been shined – and so on. It's all been done to appeal to sight first, smell second.

Take a notepad and begin outside your house. Start by reviewing your yard, and the entire exterior of your home. Then enter your home through the door perspective buyers will come through, and slowly move through your entire house one room at a time – carefully making note of anything that is 'not right.' (It might help if you try seeing the home as though you were thinking of buying it.)

While you're outside, check everything! Start with the landscaping. Pulling some weeds, raking a garden bed or flower planting area are easy, inexpensive ways to make very noticeable cosmetic improvements. Of course make sure there is no trash in the yard, but also decide if it's time to prune that crazy bush that partially covers one window. Make a note of everything you see that you believe needs attention.

When you're outside, look closely at everything. There may well be some things out there that you've forgotten about. That $500 antique weather vane that your brother gave you ten years ago was installed on the roof and forgotten about – maybe it needs polishing, or painting – or maybe you want to remove it. If nothing else, you will want to make note of its unique charm and appreciating value to perspective buyers. Many people have special, custom street numbers on their homes – make sure they are still looking as good as the day you justhad to buy them for your home. And anything else that falls into this category.

Next Page >>