Selling Your Home: How to Make Your Home Shine

If Your Home is Vacant, Furnish It.
When you are putting your home on the market, be sure to put its best face on. What this means is that you want potential buyers to see your house as a home -- and a home has comfortable furnishings. A stark, empty house will not evoke the same emotional draw as one that says "family" or "retreat". If your home is empty and you don't have any furnishings to conveniently fill it, Try a firm such as Showhomes of America. This is a company that will furnish your home with beautiful furniture for virtually no money. They will provide a "Home Manager" to furnish your home in a model home atmosphere and live there while taking care of minor maintenance like lawn and pool care.

Put Everything You Don't Absolutely Need in Storage.
While studies have shown that a furnished home sells quicker and for a higher price than an empty one, the one thing you do not want to have is a cluttered home. While it might make you feel at home, it will create a negative impression on a buyer. So what to do with the excess? the easiest thing is to gather up all the non-essentials and put them in a rented storage shed. You are going to have to move them eventually, anyway, and this amounts to two half-moves which will pay off for the extra effort.

Do You Really Need It?
As long as we're talking about clutter, here is something to consider which could actually make all the other choices easier. Consider taking your move as an opportunity to streamline your life. After being without some of your less important furnishings you may find you don't really need them anyway. They can always be sold or given to your favorite charity.

Rent a Portable Storage Unit.
Another option is to use a portable storage unit, sometimes called storage pods. if you have a convenient place to put it this might be your most logical and effort saving option since you will only have to move your things once instead of twice. There are companies such as Smartbox or Go Minis that specialize in this. They will deliver a pod, pick it up and store it, and then deliver it to your new home when you are ready for it.

Clear All Surfaces Such as Counter tops and Furniture.
This can be another source of eye-spoiling clutter. We tend to have often-used things where they are the most convenient for us, and we get used to seeing them there. That's handy for us but it's nothing but clutter to a stranger who is looking for a sleek, clean, new home. This can sometimes be the hardest thing to do when being in position of having to constantly be ready to show your home. It can be terribly inconvenient but it can make or break the sale. Be prepared for this bit of inconvenience and it will pay off in the long run.

Article contributed by Colorado's Louisville real estate experts, Automated Homefinder.

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