8 Things To Do Before Listing Your Seattle Home

You’ve got a lovely home. How do we know? Because you came to us for advice, which means you’re a person of great taste and superb judgment. That said, there’s everyday lovely and there’s “multiple offers way over asking price” lovely. And if you’re looking to sell your home in today’s hot market—home prices in Seattle have shot up over 57% in the last five years—then you want to make sure it falls firmly into the latter category.

So, let’s talk about what you should do to get your home ready to sell! In a seller’s market like the current one, it’s important to make sure your home attracts as many high offers as possible. At the same time, you don’t want to waste precious hours, effort, and money on a bunch of unnecessary work.

It’s all about finding the specific formula to make your home as enticing as possible without overdoing it. Every home is unique, so getting yours ready to sell should be a unique process. That said, here are some steps you can take that will help pretty much any home catch the eyes of potential buyers.

1. Pick Neutral Paint Colors

Neutral colors are the way to go when painting before putting a home on the market. They look good and don’t distract the eye like louder, more unique shades. This is a step you definitely want professional guidance on. There are approximately 150 shades of gray and white, and you’ll want help from someone with a trained eye to match paints with the fixtures, lighting, and layout.

2. Maximize Space

When people talk about staging a home or room, one of the main reasons is to maximize space. Set up your home so it flows well, highlights the space’s desirable features, and allows a buyer to imagine how they’d fill the home. Good staging also draws the eye away from the home’s less attractive features. You want your staging to invoke an “ease of living” feeling for potential buyers as they walk through.

3. Add Some Special Touches

Once you get the space laid out just right, add some final touches. It’s really important that the staging of your house tells the story you want people to hear/see, and that often happens in the small details. Think of things a good interior decorator would recommend, such as:

• Throw pillows for the couches, beds, etc.

• Plants and flowers

• Simple accent pieces

• Area rugs

The finishing touches sometimes make all the difference.

4. Lighting

Lighting is crucial, especially here in Seattle. After all, you want your home to shine—literally and figuratively—whether the sun’s out or not. So you need to understand both how your home looks in all types of natural light and how to use lighting to get the look you want. Make sure your lighting is consistent, too. Having different types of bulbs and wattages in different rooms tends to distract people walking through and isn’t great for listing photos.

5. Take Care of All Minor Repairs

All those tiny cracks, scuffs on the walls, and squeaky doors you keep forgetting to tackle? Time to get to it! Any deferred maintenance projects or small blemishes don’t present your home in the best possible light. Those little things you don’t notice anymore may give off the impression that your home isn’t well cared for, so it’s best to take care of them before you list.

6. Highlight Your Home's Best Features

When it comes to putting your property on the market, there’s no need to be shy. Let people see what makes your house a particularly wonderful place to call home right away. Sometimes it can be hard to know what your home’s best features are, and that’s where we come in—we know what they are!

7. Clean Up Your Stuff

Tidy your home up and keep it that way. If you’ve got piles of odds and ends stacked or scattered about, it’s time to go through them and decide what’s getting thrown out, donated, or put in storage. You should also scour your home for any decor that might come across as controversial or uncomfortable. Remove all political items, sensitive personal items, and religious displays to ensure anyone walking through your home feels completely at ease.

8. Landscaping

Upgrading your outside space is another task you definitely want professional assistance with. The return on investment for putting money into high-quality landscaping makes it well worth the effort. You want buyers looking forward to the days when the weather is good so they can enjoy the yard enough to make up for all those dreary months of rain. Smart landscaping steps to consider include:

• Trim all plant life—grass, hedges, bushes, etc—and keep it trimmed

• Remove large obstructions, such as trees, that block natural light entering the house

• Add flowering plants to yards and gardens

• Repair exterior structures such as stone paths, patios, gazebos, etc.

• Clean all external surfaces, preferably with a power washer

  
  

Bring in the Professionals

These are universally good starting points to help your home look its finest, but they are by no means the only things you should do. A good start is one thing, but professional assistance is even better. Getting expert eyes and ideas involved can turn your listing from great to perfect. That’s where the magic happens—where a house for sale goes from “enticing” to “too good to be true.” And that’s where we come in.

We know what works—let us put together a customized plan for you and your home. Just reach out to us here and let’s get to work!