Posted on: Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Plan to sell? First, get that house in shape

By Craig Wilson
USA Today

Donna Freeman of HGTV's "Designed to Sell" can help you dump your house in no time. Excuse us. Make that sell your house in no time. "My motto is this: The way you live in a house and the way you sell a house are totally different," says Freeman, a Los Angeles-based real estate agent. "If I were to put my house on the market, it wouldn't resemble where I live now. You want it to look like a model home."

Here are 10 things to do right now to assure your house will sell faster:

• Get rid of clutter. "That's universal. Ask someone who won't hold back" to give you an honest opinion of what needs to go. "Kitchen appliances all over the counters, for instance. Get rid of the stuff on the refrigerator door. And collections. All your baseball caps. Pack them up until you move to your new home."

• Wipe up dirt. "Once you live in the house, the dirt becomes invisible. I went into a house once, and dirt was literally hanging off the ceiling fan. The sellers never even noticed. And dirty bathrooms. These are personal things buyers don't want to see."

• Roll on a fresh coat of paint. "Just make sure the color is neutral. You might like bright orange, but the majority of people don't want it. You're looking for multiple offers here. So paint with a wide brush."

• Open the curtains and blinds. "Let the sun shine in. The rooms look larger and have more energy. If the home looks small, the buyers don't think they're getting as good a value."

• Pump up curb appeal. "Many times an agent will give an address to drive by. If the outside doesn't look good, well, that's that. Our goal is for the buyer to approach the house and say, 'Oh, boy!' Believe it or not, a new doormat works wonders. And make sure your house is well-manicured. You don't want cars sitting on blocks on the front yard."

• Make your master bedroom a haven. "Replace dingy bedding and soiled carpeting. It's distasteful. Make the master bedroom look like a retreat, someplace they want to spend some time."

• Temporarily relocate furry occupants. "Make sure all pet items are out of sight. And the odor. My word, the odor! Have someone come in and do a sniff test for you."

• Box up kids' plastic toys. "You don't want buyers tripping over them in every room. And if they're pushed up against the wall, you can't see the size of the room. Bright-colored plastic is offensive in every way."

• Leave the house when it's being shown. "Buyers don't want you to stay. They can't see the wonderful fireplace because they're too nervous the seller is there."

• Finish the projects that you've started. "The buyer sees all this work he'll have to do. Floors unfinished. Molding around windows. They'll (want to) patch a hole, not paint over it. The buyer will wonder what happened. It's a red flag."