FSBO

For Sale By Owner Preparing the Inside of Your Home For Sale

The outside of the “For Sale By Owner” home is the “first impression” the buyer will have of this home, but the inside of the home is the lasting impression of the home.  Before you put the “For Sale By Owner” sign on your front lawn, you will need to go through your home to get rid of the clutter.  Clutter and dark colors tend to turn off most buyers.  This means you will need to go through the clutter and weed out some of the things you can’t or don’t use.  You may want to have a garage sale or make a donation to your nearest Salvation Army or Goodwill location.  If you still have too much clutter, you will want to look into renting a storage space.  If you can’t see the baseboards in a room, you might still have too much clutter.

Light colored walls with bright lights make your rooms look larger.  If you have any darkly painted walls, you may want to consider painting with a white or off-white paint.  Increase the number of watts of the light bulbs in your home.

If you have carpet, you might want to replace any carpet pungent or overly stained.  If replacing the carpet is not necessary, give a good shampooing.  Make sure to polish and clean all windows and mirrors.

Give your stove and oven a thorough cleaning.  Clean the oven and the drip pans under each burner.  Make sure to remove all grease and dirt build-up.  Polish the shine on the outside of the stove and oven.  Clean your refrigerator and any other appliances including the dishwasher.

Clean all the window treatments, including the blinds, and clean all the fingerprints around the doorknobs and light switches.  Make sure to clean the wall around your wastebaskets, especially the one in the kitchen.

Clean all your kitchen countertops and clear them off as much as possible.  Reduce the number of items in your cabinets not only in the kitchen, but in all the cabinets in your house.

Arrange your clothes in your closets to where they hang neatly and not over crowded and remove some of the items off the shelves and on the floor leaving them looking spacious and clear.  Make sure to clean and organize your garage, basement and attic space.

If the FSBO home has any leaks, rattles, or squeaks, this gives the impression the home needs a lot of work done on it, so do everything you can to eliminate them.  If your stairs, steps or banister is loose, tighten them.  Repair any water leaks and eliminate any signs of water damage, such as painting over the water stains or replace any damaged wallpaper.  You may want to clean and replace all the caulking in your home.  Make sure to repair any doors or windows so they will open correctly.  Tighten any loose nuts, screws or bolts, especially on the light switches, doorknobs, and cabinet hinges.  Any loose molding needs to be tacked down.

Don’t forget to check for odors.  If need be, get a neighbor or friend to help you.  They will be able to smell odors you have become accustom to.  You want you FSBO home to look and smell as fresh, clean and as new as possible.