[Mrs. Robinson]

If the carpet you have in the bedroom is in good condition, leave it.
Otherwise, replace it with a similar color which I assume matches what is in your other bedrooms.
A million different floorings in a house is a no-no.

If the house needs painting inside, do-it.

Remove everything personal.
That includes photos, religious items (including those little white crosses on your lawn, if you have one), and anything on your refrigerator!
Only leave necessary items on your counter tops in the kitchen and baths.

If you have pets, be aware you may have pet odors in the house.
Ask a neighbor to come in and give it the sniff test.
If you have any odors, shampoo all your carpets, wash all the pet beds and blankets regularly and remember to remove or confine pets when you show the house.

Make sure your landscaping is maintained and plant some fall annuals for color.
Pressure clean your driveway and walkway if it needs it. Curb appeal is important.

Make sure the inside of your washer is clean.
If you've already packed some boxes, if it's more than a few, store them for the time being.
Turn on all your lights and lamps when showing your house.
Bake cookies when you know the house is being shown or simmer cinnamon sticks on your range; those smells are inviting.

Good luck!

[dewilson58]

Remove your teeth from the nightstand and put a sign out front.

[Enjoying Life]

I just sold my home FSBO, and something that has not been mentioned here, I totally cleaned out the garage and painted the walls and flooring. This made the garage look huge and my buyer mentioned several times that they had never seen such a clean garage. Cost was minimal to me but was impressive to the buyer.
I will add that many upgrades had been made to my home before I purchased it and that was a big factor when I bought. I wanted to come to The Villages to PLAY not to take my time remodeling my new to me home. Good luck and don't get discouraged.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

Definitely make the changes. Some prospective purchasers have no imagination.
Your house should look uncluttered and clean (turn on all the lights and open the blinds).
Soft music playing in the background during showings.
Your house should smell good, preferably fresh-baked cookies that you can offer to prospective purchasers.
But at least cinnamon simmering on the back burner.

Be extremely careful using cinnamon. Believe it or not there are Many people that are allergic. I have two friends that are anaphylactic and my middle child requires an EpiPen when she smells cinnamon.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Remove your teeth from the nightstand and put a sign out front.

Extremely wise.

[vintageogauge]

We are in the process of making this same decision on our home up north to sell this coming spring. We have found that in our neighborhood (20 years old) most buyers are younger executives and as we have watched our neighbors homes being sold, with the exception of one, they completely remodeled these homes before moving in. There was one that was totally re-done before listing and it went for the lowest price of all of the recently sold units. We don't know what to do, all of our woodwork is natural stained and today everyone seems to want white woodwork which I don't agree with as you can never bring it back. Since we already have granite and mostly hardwood floors in the living area I think we are just going to go the touch up and heavy cleaning route, price it a little below competition and see what happens.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

We are in the process of making this same decision on our home up north to sell this coming spring. We have found that in our neighborhood (20 years old) most buyers are younger executives and as we have watched our neighbors homes being sold, with the exception of one, they completely remodeled these homes before moving in. There was one that was totally re-done before listing and it went for the lowest price of all of the recently sold units. We don't know what to do, all of our woodwork is natural stained and today everyone seems to want white woodwork which I don't agree with as you can never bring it back. Since we already have granite and mostly hardwood floors in the living area I think we are just going to go the touch up and heavy cleaning route, price it a little below competition and see what happens.

I love this whole subject. (no accounting for people's interests) I think an empty, perfectly clean home with updated light fixtures and neutral* wall colors is better than a home with outdated furniture. (GRAY* is very popular right now)

Pricing it competitively is key. Our agent said that your best chance is in the first ten days it is on the market. Ours had three offers that drove the price up.

Disclaimer. I don't sell real estate and never have. Sold our own home without agents a couple of times.

[NotGolfer]

We've bought and sold many homes in our lives together! The "up north" home was our last sale. A realtor friend told me I "had to" repaint it to neutral colors and stage. I told her I've never done any of that before and homes went just fine. I did try to lose as many "personal" items as possible and always kept things neat and clean.

My opinion is....it's as someone else said here...folks will move in and change everything to their taste so I'd leave it. Make repairs where possible, keep it uncluttered and clean and you should be fine.

[Investment Painting Contractors]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

We had three offers and a bidding war on home in Ohio before we moved here. Took our agents advice;

Removed and stored excess furniture. Had carpets cleaned professionally. Had neutral paint on all walls.

Cleaned and cleaned again. Removed all personal photographs and all clutter. Had exterior bushes trimmed a LOT. Replaced tired looking outdoor furniture covers. We had granite. and hardwood.

Trusted our agent, a long time friend to price the home.

21 Staging tips for selling your home fast | Fox News

Here is a list that might help.

Gracie you're on the money with your advice, also always paint the front door. Len

[bluedivergirl]

Originally Posted by Nucky

For us, we would rather get the money off the selling price because we will be replacing everything anyway. Some people need to put the money into the house when they are leaving. For the life of me I don't understand that. Why wouldn't you improve the property several years before you sell it so you can enjoy the new countertop, toilets, showers, paint job etc before you hand it over to a buyer?? Keep the money in your pocket on the big item's just clean it within an inch of its life and never replace carpet with carpet. Hardwood or laminate is better depending on the house price if you must. Sunny send me a PM and maybe you will have a sold house today or tomorrow.

There are two schools of thought no doubt. You wouldn't believe some of the houses we have bought site unseen. They were bombs but we made money. Good Luck to you either way you go.

That is exactly what we did up north. Remodeled the kitchen with hardwood, granite, and better appliances about 5 years before we planned to sell.

Removed unfortunate carpet choice (80's pink!) and replaced with a neutral.

Removed popcorn ceilings and repainted about 2 years ahead.

Final touch: replaced brass lighting and cupboard knobs.

Clean, clean and check it again.

We had an over-asking offer in 3 days.

[Chatbrat]

When we sold our house in NJ, the $$ was for the property, the house was an extra--sold in 10 days , the new buyer bulldozed it and build a 10000 sq ft mcmansion

[sunny46]

Thanks to everyone's suggestions.

[rjm1cc]

I agree with the realtor. But put the home up for sale now, get feedback on why people pass on the home, and if it does not sell then use the feed back and make some improvements.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Remove your teeth from the nightstand and put a sign out front.

OH my God. I'm laughing so hard!

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

We are in the process of making this same decision on our home up north to sell this coming spring. We have found that in our neighborhood (20 years old) most buyers are younger executives and as we have watched our neighbors homes being sold, with the exception of one, they completely remodeled these homes before moving in. There was one that was totally re-done before listing and it went for the lowest price of all of the recently sold units. We don't know what to do, all of our woodwork is natural stained and today everyone seems to want white woodwork which I don't agree with as you can never bring it back. Since we already have granite and mostly hardwood floors in the living area I think we are just going to go the touch up and heavy cleaning route, price it a little below competition and see what happens.

I agree with you.

Location is key as well. Our kids bought low in a terrific school district, did very little but had a big yard. First open house, five over- price offers, sold in a day.

We kept our Michigan condo updated except for the oak kitchen cabs. Cleaned and decluttered extensively, but kept the eclectic wall colors. First person through bought it.

It was on water. So consider the popularity of your location as well. Other than decluttering, you may not have to do as much as you think.