Are you getting your home ready to list it for sale?  Preparing to sell a home in West Chester, Liberty Township or Beckett Ridge can be an overwhelming task if you are not prepared.  The process of getting your home ready can be simplified by breaking the areas of your home up into groups. 

In my previous post, >>Preparing Your Home To Sell, we covered Curb Appeal, Front Entry / Porch & Landscaping.  Today we will cover your first impression (interior, foyer).  When selling your home in today’s real estate market it is critical that the first impression that home buyers have of your home is a welcoming one.  A welcoming space is one that invites the home buyer in and lures them into the rest of the house.

Many times homeowners don’t even come and go through their front door and thus don’t place a great enough emphasis on this area of the home.  This is the area of the home that starts off the showing for the homebuyer and this is where they begin to anticipate the rest of the house.

The home buyer needs to be able to envision themselves in your home, so this is definitely an area of a home listed for sale that should have all personal effects, photos and clutter removed.  Generally speaking, any furniture that is located in this area should be removed with the exception of a properly sized foyer table.  Be sure that there are no pieces of furniture or baby gates blocking the path or view from the foyer in the rest of your home.

Be sure to de-clutter your foyer closet.  A full and cluttered foyer closet simply tells home buyers that you are short on closet space.  The foyer closet should not be more than half full.  Store unused and seasonal coats in plastic tubs in a storage area away from the living spaces of your home.

All personal/family photos should be removed from the foyer area.  If your foyer has a space that you feel needs decorating consider a mirror instead of photos.

The foyer paint color should be neutral and an earth tone.  Under no circumstances should your foyer have wallpaper on the walls.

As buyers enter your home, the scent that they smell must be clean and very subtle.  The use of candles or spray air freshener is not recommended.  Many home buyers can have adverse reactions to these strong smells and in some cases may actually wonder what it is you are trying to cover up.

We have now created a great first impression for home buyers as you continue preparing your home for sale in today’s real estate market.  In the next post in this series of articles we’ll cover Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room & Study.

Read the first article in this series here >>  Preparing Your Home For Sale In Today’s Market Part I

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