Step by Step Guide to Selling: 8 Ways to Make Your Home More Sellable

Get a Great Real Estate Agent

This is your first step and the most important one. Your agent is going to help you formulate a plan for selling your home fast. Look for an agent with a lot of experience that you feel comfortable talking to and with a track record behind him. You can do this with a phone call and then can meet him in person to make sure that you both connect and can form a team to get the house sold ASAP.

Start Cleaning and Tidying

Sit down and write up a plan to get every room clean and tidy fast. When you have a plan in front of you with the actual steps that you need to take you'll be able to scratch them off as they get done and see the progress being made. With a solid plan in front of you nothing will be left to chance and you'll be able to cover the whole area in record time.

Make sure your kitchen, bathrooms, and floors sparkle. Use old fashioned elbow grease or call in professional cleaners to get the job done. Can you walk into your walk-in closet? Does your car barely fit into your garage? Start packing early and put your seasonal and personal things into storage. Make your rooms and cupboards look spacious.

Now's not the time to do any heavy sorting. You simply want to get your home looking generally tidy and clean in case the agent calls tomorrow with somebody that wants to see your home. The sorting and de-cluttering needs to be done once the tidying and cleaning is finished.

Find a Handyman to Do Repairs

Put on your home inspector‘s hat and walk through your house. Make a list of the items that need attention and arrange for repairs. Focus on your entry-way, drywall, paint, sticky/squeaky doors, leaky faucets, flooring and countertops.

If you have any noticeable repairs that need to be done look for a handyman in the classified ad section in a Calgary newspaper or online. You can also ask your real estate agent if he knows of a good handyman that he could recommend. Make sure that you let the person you contact know that you need these repairs done fast. This will eliminate any repair people that are booked up solid for the next few weeks.

Examine the Exterior of Your Home

Walk over to the sidewalk and look back at your home. Is there any clutter outside? Does your house appear dirty and in need of a good wash? The exterior of your home is the first thing that potential buyers are going to see so it's important to get things neat, tidy and clean in a hurry. A handyman can often help with these items as well.

Get Your Pets Handled

If you have any pets that you need to remove from the home before it can be shown figure out a plan of action for them right away. In some cases you'll be able to simply put your overly-friendly dog in the backyard during any house viewings but in other cases you may want to get a relative or friend to look after him on a short-term basis.

Help Buyers See Themselves in Your House

Remove your family photos and personal mementos. If you’re a collector, pack up your collection. Buyers have difficulty picturing themselves in your house when your personal items are on display.

Let the Light In

Bright homes often have a higher resale value. Get your windows cleaned, inside and out. (Consider hiring a professional.) Pull back blinds and draperies to let natural light in. If you still have some dark spots, add floor or table lamps to the area.

Groom Your Yard With New Landscaping

You wouldn’t go to a job interview without being well groomed, so make sure your yard is groomed for viewings. Trim your hedges and shrubs. Cut the grass. Pull weeds and cut back any greenery that covers walkways.

Your real estate agent will have other advice to offer once they see the condition of your home for themselves. For now though, these are a few steps that you can implement right away when you know that a fast sale is important.