Home Marketing Tips

• Keep your kitchen and bathrooms clean.
• Keep the cat box clean and change the litter frequently.
• Be vigilant about sweeping and vacuuming up pet hair.
• Put out nice towels in the bathroom
• Put away your personal items, treasures, and knick-knacks.
• Put fresh flowers on the dining room table. In the dreary days of winter or the rainy season, fragrant blossoms will perk up the room.
• Set up an information station where you can put flyers about your house, articles about how great the neighborhood is, and property-condition disclosure forms.
• Leave out a fancy plate or bowl for the visiting agents' business cards. They leave the card when they bring buyers through so your real-estate agent knows who came through. Some agents may call agents they know well and ask for objective feedback about how things look.
• When your agent calls to schedule a viewing, arrange to be elsewhere. You'll inhibit the buyers if you're there, and they won't look as carefully.
• Keep your kitchen countertops cleared. Find homes in cabinets for things you normally leave out, like the toaster.
• Don't leave dirty dishes in the sink.
• Decide how you want to handle the pets. The buyers will want to see the whole house, so you may need to make arrangements for your dog to be elsewhere.
• Replace any burned-out light bulbs.
• Make sure there is nothing on the stairs that people could trip on.
• Wipe the handles and frequently-touched surfaces on the refrigerator, the stove, and the oven.
• Shake out the rugs by the doors.
• Don't take it personally if your real-estate agent makes a suggestion that you don't like. The agent knows what works, and whatever the suggestion is, it's temporary!
• Be sensitive to smells in your house. Your buyers will pick up on them immediately. Use boxes of baking soda or mild air fresheners while you find the source of the smell and deal with it.
• Keep a roll of store-bought refrigerated chocolate-chip cookie dough and bake five or six slices while you're double-checking the house. Put the baking sheet in the dishwasher and take the cookies with you. They get the aroma, and you get the cookies!