21 Tips to Sell Your House Quickly
A list of tips for how to prepare your home to get prospective buyers and professionally stage your house for showings to sell your house quickly.
I really wasn’t going to post anymore about the old house. (Like, Lauren, we get it, you’re moving. Move on, already.)
But seriously, I feel like I’m beating an old topic sometimes harping on about the old cookie cutter digs as we’re playing this waiting game for the new house. I wasn’t planning on writing this post initially, but then the other week, when I sent out a blog survey email asking y’all questions about what you’d like to see from me in the future, I realized this post was a must-do.
So many of y’all told me you will actually be putting your house on the market and moving this year too. And, with all of that, I had some requests for tips to stage a house and help it sell quickly.
Which brings me to… 21 Tips to Sell Your House Quickly:
- Declutter
Get rid of your extra stuff before you put your house on the market. Rooms and closets will look so much bigger to prospective buyers if they’re not crammed with junk. Have a yard sale or donate or temporarily rent a storage unit if you have a lot you plan to move. (Here are 10 tips for hosting a successful garage sale.) And, even better, it’ll be a bit less stress on your plate when you are officially under contract and have to start packing.
2. Thoroughly clean
Take a weekend to deep clean like a maniac top-to-bottom. You can find this super handy Whole House Deep Cleaning Checklist in this post, if you want some guidance.
3. Mow the lawn and maintain gardens
This one’s probably a no-brainer since curb appeal plays a huge role in real estate. Pull weeds, edge flower beds, and lay down new mulch, if you can.
4. Place some bright flowers or potted plants on the porch.
Right before showings, make a quick trip to a nearby nursery to spruce up around the front door. First impressions matter so much.
5. Touch up paint on walls and cabinets, if needed, and re-caulk cracks around sinks, fixtures, and moldings.
All of those little jobs you’ve noticed that show gradual wear in your house, now’s the time to patch it all up.
6. Handle your small, forgotten repairs like leaky faucets, broken drawers, etc.
Walk around your house and assess what needs a little work that has gotten overlooked or you’ve just “lived with” until now. Chances are, it’ll come up in the inspection phase of selling your house anyway, so it’s best to go ahead and get it done.
7. Keep tables, countertops, nightstands, coffee tables, and dressers clear of papers, trash, and clutter.
Our butler’s pantry countertops were always the worst because it’s where our mail pile always would collect. Nightstands would end up with cell phone charger cords, medicine bottles, and water glasses. Get rid of anything that’s not decorative, and even then, scale it back a bit.
8. Clear off the refrigerator of magnets and papers.
“Decorated” refrigerators can make a kitchen feel messy, so hide your kid’s artwork and class photos.
9. Use an essential oil diffuser.
Spray room fresheners and candles can sometimes be a little too “perfumey”, but essential oils are a great way to achieve a fresh, clean smell. I love using a couple of drops each of lemon, lavender, and rosemary oils in a diffuser upstairs and downstairs for an extra appeal and to eliminate any lingering cooking smells.
Which reminds me…
10. Empty the garbage before a showing.
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11. Freshen the garbage disposal with a couple of lemon slices.
12. Make beds.
Because even if the rest of the house needs some help, a made bed can work some magic.
13. Set the table.
You don’t have to make it anything extravagant. Just setting some placemats, plates, and silverware on the table can give your dining room a homey feel.
14. Put out a vase or two of fresh flowers before a showing.
It’s the little details like that that can make a big difference. Artificial ones are nice, but you can’t beat real. And showing your house to put on the market, is kind of a special occasion. A vase of grocery store blooms on your kitchen table and on your entryway table can go a long way.
15. Place a few plush pillows and a soft throw blanket on sofas and beds to make the spaces more inviting.
Any chance you have to make your home look cozy and welcoming, do it.
16. Use white towels in bathrooms.
It invokes a feeling of a clean spa experience. Just some simple white towels from Walmart will do the job. Same goes for bedding. If you have white bedding, use it.
17. Put a tray on the bed with a couple of coffee cups and a book to look more relaxing.
Pottery Barn does it in their stores to convince you to buy. Why can’t you?
18. Open up blinds and shades to let in natural light.
Natural light makes rooms appear bigger. Bigger rooms makes prospective buyers happy. Happy prospective buyers put in offers. Sound logic, right?
19. Make the entryway welcoming by hiding shoes, coats, keys, etc.
Even if you have to hide shoes in baskets and put some coats into storage boxes in the attic, it’s better than having your crazy all out in the open right beside your front door when buyers walk in.
20. Paint bright colorful walls a more neutral shade, if you can.
This one might be hard, but if you have a very bright, shocking wall color, it might be a tad harder to sell. Some buyers can’t see past simple fixes like wall color. If you can’t get your house sold quickly, try neutral paint. (Here are some of the paint colors we used in our house.)
21. Use bright light bulbs.
Bright light will make rooms feel more open and buyers can actually see your house.
Do you have any staging tips of your own? Or have you seen some great staging ideas from visiting house showings and Home-a-ramas before? It is a lot of work, but it will absolutely pay off in the end.
