Prep Your Home Now for Listing This Spring

What you can do now to get ready for the spring market

If you’re thinking of putting your home on the market this spring, this is the time to get HGTV-ready!

As that popular show reminds us, today’s buyers are shopping online. So, you really need to make a striking first impression that stops potential buyers mid-scroll. Your home must dazzle someone who’s checking Zillow at 4 a.m.

Decluttering is no longer enough

Many homeowners are focused on tidying up, thanks to Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo, whose book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, has sparked a global decluttering craze. But in order to achieve that picture-perfect look, you can’t just clean out a few closets; you must downsize your entire interior.

Less is more! What to clear out? If you have five sofas and chairs in a room, get rid of two of them. Imagine moving in two weeks: What are you going to take with you? If it’s not on your packing list, get rid of it or donate it now.

After your purge, take a good look around and ask yourself: What else can you do to make your home camera-ready?

My advice:

Get rid of heavy drapes and valances, and anything with pattern, including wallpaper. No one likes busy patterns or dark wood. Besides, they do not photograph well. Photos of your home have to sparkle and standout online. Think bling! Think bright and white!

I recommend that walls be all white or a very neutral light color. Other simple investments you can make and do yourself include putting in new light fixtures, new door hardware, and all-white bedding including comforters and shams. These are inexpensive items that will offer a huge bang for your buck.

Curb Appeal Counts

Lastly, if the weather is mild enough (even mid-winter), tidy up outside.

Clean up the last of the fall leaves and twigs, tuck away outdoor furniture, cut back shrubs and grasses so they’ll grow back nicely. Nothing looks lush and green in the early spring market, but you can make your property look trim and manicured.

Fiona Dogan is a Licensed Realtor® in the Rye office of Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty. She is a Westchester Five Star Real Estate Agent, Platinum Award winner, and an Accredited Buyer Representative. For more information, please contact Fiona Dogan at: fiona.dogan@juliabfee.com.