Reston Real Estate: Get Ready Now if you are Selling in Spring

This is a sponsored post by Eve Thompson of Reston Real Estate. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.

Thinking of selling your home in the spring? The time to start getting ready is now.

I don’t typically hold to the notion that one time of year versus another is better for selling your home. For as long as I’ve been selling real estate I have always had at least one transaction around the holidays, but conventional wisdom says that there is something magical about spring.

That being said, as of this writing there are 88 days until Spring, and unless you are a contender for the Martha Stewart award for home organization, the time to start working on your house for a spring listing is now.

When a seller takes seriously the job of preparing their home it takes much, much longer than they imagine. It’s not at all uncommon for the sorting, purging, cleaning, and painting to take up to two months.

So what kinds of things should you be doing to get your home ready?

1. Closets: I recommend that you start with the closets. I think my agent colleagues would agree that a closet that is half-full sends a much better message than one that if stuffed to the gills. Most of us hold on to all kinds of stuff for no better reasonthan we have the room for it, so be ruthless.

2. Pre-packing: For things that you really do want to keep but that you don’t need ready access to, go ahead and pack it up in anticipation of your move.

3. Deep cleaning: I cannot stress to a seller how critical this is. Clean it from the baseboards to the light switches to the light fixtures.

4. Knock off the old “To-do” list: That old light fixture you’ve been meaning to replace since you bought the place — do it now!

A competitive market demands that you make your place stand out from the crowd, so get a jump on it now.