Fredericksburg Parent

10 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • March 2021 You've made the decision to sell what is probably your greatest fi nancial asset—your home. You couldn't have picked a be er me. There are many interested buyers, in part due to low- interest rates, but inventory is low, meaning houses are selling faster and some mes for more than the asking price. Despite the current Seller's Market, the selling process s ll requires some level of prepara on. We spoke with two local realtors and staging experts to fi nd out what it really takes to get your house ready to list. LIST IT! LIST IT! DECLUTTER The more things si ng around, the fewer poten al buyers actually see of your house. A erall, they're in the market for your house, not your stuff . Sarah Keddie of Keddie Real Estate says this is the perfect me to start boxing up items in your home. "Not only will you be helping yourself out by star ng the packing process earlier, but rooms and spaces with less items appear larger and less crowded," she says. Japreshia Clarke of Nest Realty has some prac cal advice on how to organize the process.\ "Remove things in three phases: trash, sell and donate." DEEP CLEAN A lot of buyers don't have the ability to look beyond a messy house. Some messes and smells, such as cat li er boxes, piles of dirty laundry and overfl owing trash cans, can be so of- fensive to poten al buyers that they might not complete the tour. "Carpets absorb smell and track a tremendous amount of dirt, so having them looking and smelling fresh goes a long way," says Keddie. She also recommends cleaning fan blades, baseboards and the inside of appliances. You never know where a poten al buyer will want to look. "Clean unexpected places—mechanical room and pan- try," says Clark, who even suggests dying up your a c and crawl space, if you're adventurous enough, that is. WRITTEN BY RHIANNON ELLIS Getting Your Home Market Ready for Your Familyʼs Move

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