I am a professional home stager & a real estate broker, so here are a few tips to get you started. Clear the home of all clutter and most personal items. Make all rooms look inviting to a buyer, not cluttered and full. Even clear out storage spaces & garages to show the space available. Clean, clean, clean. Dust baseboards, window ledges, mouldings and all furnishings. Use a magic eraser to wipe off light switches and handprints from walls, doors and mouldings about doorways. Neutral pleasing paint colors throughout the house is nice. When you have too much color, it can turn a buyer off. If the carpet or flooring is worn, replace it with neutral throughout the house. Not patchwork carpet, meaning one color or texture in one room and different colors/textures in another area.

Pay attention to you yard! Make sure it is nicely groomed, bushes trimmed, freshly mulched beds, and plant some pleasing flowers for the spring market. Clean your house outside if it needs it...power wash vinyl siding and clean walkways, decks and patios. Look at your front door. If it does not look fresh and clean and the knobs and locks are old and worn out...at least put a fresh coat of paint on the door and put a new lockset on the door as well. Be sure to key both the deadbolt and door knob with the same key for convenience of entry.

I could go on and on. But if you truly need help...call me and I will set up a time to meet with you at your home and make a list of things for you to do. I can also bring in items for staging or if the home is vacant and void of furnishings, I can bring in items for staging to take away that "empty" house feeling. Feel free to call me anytime.

Tina Beasley
Envision Real Estate, LC
Associate Broker
804-972-9927 Cell Direct

Just Looking,

Neutral color paint is the cheapest and easiest way to spruce up a home. But the first and most important thing is cleaness.... be indoors or outdoors! Good Luck with your sale.

Regards,

Maridol Garcia-Joy, Realtor, ABR, CAS, ASP

Long & Foster Real Estate Inc.

Alexandria /Kingstowne Cente

5911 Kingstowne Village Pkwy Ste 100

Alexandria VA 22315

Cell 703-655-0777

Office703-822-8327

Fax 703-922-8835

maridol@LNF.com

Clean and then clean some more. A clean and neutral property are best sellers. In Northern Virginia upgrades are very important. If nothing else..update your kitchen appliances...Simple and inexpensive value adds are also fresh paint, six panel doors and crown molding.

Let's not forget curb appeal..fresh mulch, flowers and making sure the front door and or storm door are in clean and like new condition. Shutters should be clean and fresh too.

A good experienced agent will walk you through all this and be sure to actually do it!

Kind Regards,

Erik j. Weisskopf, ABR,CDPE,CRS,GRI
Re/Max Distinctive Real Estate
Erik@AskMeAboutHomes.com
703.216.1222

There are dozens of ways to add curb appeal to your home before you sell it. As part of my listing agent services, I provide a thorough and complete analysis of the home and then write a good, solid marketing plan which includes which improvements need to be done in order to get top dollar for the home. And if necessary, I bring in the talent to get the work done and provide the staging assistance, furniture rental, or whatever is needed as we then reach agreement on the approach to market the home. If you would like some good ideas you can use this link:
http://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/exteriors/curb-appeal/wa…

Curb appeal outside and an uncluttered, neutral inside work wonders. Perhaps a bread machine going during open houses or even some cookies cooking in the oven will help.
Curb appeal is very important. Freshly mowed lawn, seasonal flowers blooming outside, perhaps a vase of the same flowers in the dining room or kitchen, and the condition of the front door are all inexpensive and easily accomplished items that will add value and help the home sell faster.
Best wishes, Jim

Effective ways to increase the value of your home before selling include several options. I think the most important is to improve the "curb appeal". Buyers will not even want to enter the front door if the home does not look appealing from the street. The second most important factor is to have neutral paint colors in the home. Buyers want homes that will not require them to spend time and money immediately personalizing the interior to work with their furniture and furnishings. Beyond curb appeal and neutral paint colors increasing the value of a home for selling it can get expensive with renovation of kitchens, bathrooms, etc. These changes are best left to the buyers with renovation financing options.

Clean it. Keep it clean.

This is THE MOST EFFECTIVE way to increase the value of your home.

Buyers will stop focusing on things that catch their attention around your house, and instead focus on the house. Buyers will remember a house that is exceptionally clean and well kept and will associate that the rest of the house-- everything they dont see-- is also in good working order. They will assume that the seller has kept the house in excellent condition.

This also goes to the outside. Clean your yard. Clean your gutters. Clean your windows. A well kept house from the exterior gives a good impression to what to expect on the interior. People often slow down in front of my home and honk to say "I Love your House...." -- what they mean is they love that I keep a nice garden and yard and it has "curb appeal" -- because they have never been in my house. But if they did, they would find it is just as tidy. Everything in its place means that it has room and space for a new buyer -- should I ever decide to move.

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