Every seller is looking for the perfect sale and every buyer is looking for the perfect opportunity to seize a new home or investment property.
Getting your home ready to close the deal for the most money, starts with knowing where to begin and, often, that means, quite literally, you need to
paint the perfect sale.
Often times people are selling a home that they've lived in for 30 or 40 years and they're madly in love with
the wallpaper but it is extremely
dated.
Things like wallpaper and color on the interior and exterior walls of your home can significantly influence buyers. So it is worth carefully looking
over your home before you put it on the market to see what areas need touching up or an entire re-do. If you find the wallpaper has to go, then
knowing how to make the change is equally important so that you don't end up with an even bigger mess.
To strip wallpaper can be very time-consuming, expensive, and damaging to the underlying surface making it
difficult to paint. You can paint over wallpaper if you prime it first with an oil-based primer such as Kilz. If you do that, it seals the surface
well and then you can
go over it with water-based paint. But if you go directly over wallpaper with water-based paint, without priming it with an oil-based undercoat, it
will peel up at the edges. So the critical first step is to prime it with an oil-based undercoat.
To paint the perfect sale, carefully look around your home for the holes that frequently don't get filled after you've taken down
family photos and artwork. Has Spackle been put up by smearing a big chunk on the wall and
then letting it dry?
Here's a little trick to get a better outcome. Place a bit of Spackle in the hole and then take a wet sponge and lightly wipe the
surface. The sponge removes all excess Spackle from around the hole so the Spackle just fills the hole itself.
Another area of concern is the door -- in particular, doors that belong to teenagers. Picture this. Your teenager has turned her door into a collage
board of photos, memorabilia, stickers, award ribbons, cards -- you name it -- all are stuck on her door, permanently securing her identity to the
home you're now trying to sell. Pulling off the memories before listing the home for sale is important, otherwise buyers get caught up in all of your
personal stuff and then can't see the home as theirs. Buyers also don't want the headache of having to pull down and repaint the door. And chances
are
you don't want to have to do that either.
Here's what sellers with this issue can do. There are products on the market that will help you to get all that sticky stuff off the door
and it's worth a try. One product to try is called Lift Off. It's available at the paint or hardware store and it works wonders, according to
one contractor we know.
Many sellers wonder how to get rid of a stain in the ceiling. You don't always have to re-paint the entire ceiling. Say you've
had all the
leaks fixed in the roof and you still have some stains, sometimes you can by without painting by putting half bleach and half water in a little
squirt
bottle and lightly spritzing the surface until it's wet. You can spray the mixture on the surface of an acoustic or painted
drywall ceiling. A second spray of the area will often diminish or completely remove the stain and you might not even need to paint!
If you do need to paint the interior or exterior of your home, you might avoid
painting the whole house by touching up critical areas such as the front door, trim, and fascia board.
With exterior painting, usually the house doesn't go bad all at once. Sometimes windowsills or thresholds can
get a lot
of
sun and can be prepared and touched up extending the life of the entire paint job for several years.
Cleaning and pressure washing your home can give it a new and brighter look.
A little tender loving care for your home before you list it is a warm welcoming sign for potential buyers.
Source: Realty Times
Selected Rates as of July 17, 2008:
30 yr fixed: 6.26%
15 yr. fixed: 5.78%
1 yr. adj: 5.10%
Source: Realty Times
