The Seller’s Complete Checklist

Have you made the decision to prepare your house for sale as we did? There is much to do which is why we created the Seller’s Complete Checklist to keep ourselves organized and on track.

We were shocked at the results when using these home selling tips.

Use our free printable checklist as a guide and take joy in making big checkmarks every time you complete a task! I love making those check marks

We have lived in our current home for 17 of the nearly 20 years we’ve been married. Lots of memories have been made. All but the oldest of our five grandchildren were born since we have lived here.

There was that time our little grandson bit into a glow stick one summer night as we lounged on the front porch. Our first responder was a neighbor with Poison Control on speed dial. Just a couple of months ago, the two oldest grandsons were throwing a baseball when the window in their Mom’s van was broken. We have hosted many Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter celebrations in our home. 

My Dad cleared the land our home is on and gave us several of our trees. My Mom lived with us for four years after my Dad passed away until she lost her life to breast cancer. Our youngest daughter graduated from high school, went to college, and got married since we have been here. My husband and I worked our way through college, growing our cleaning business with many long nights of studying at the dining room table.

But it is time for a change at this season in our life and we have made the decision to move closer to my husband’s job and cut down on commute time. We’re leaving the country and moving to the city! We are both quite excited about our future.

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We have created a list and we’re working toward the goal. If you’re about to embark upon the same journey, use these tips.

Table of Contents

• The Homeowner’s Complete Selling List
  • Make a List
  • Conduct a Walk Through
  • Declutter
    • My story
  • Clean, Clean, Clean
    • My story
  • Repairs
    • My story
  • Paint
  • Curb Appeal
• How long did it take to sell our home?
• More Homemaking Ideas 

The Homeowner’s Complete Selling List

We really do need to begin by making a list. No worries, I have done that for you. Grab the free printable home selling checklist at the end of the article.

Here is what you need to know about getting your home ready to sale.

Make a List

The first thing we did once we made the decision was to create a list based on what we knew needed to happen before we even call the realtor.

I did a great deal of research on realtor websites and created a checklist for selling your home based on matching advice from many realtors.

I then stapled the list to the front of a notebook which has sub-lists of each room in our home with specific tasks to accomplish. One example of what might be on your list follows. We use one of our bedrooms as a home office but will be staging it as a bedroom. Those are the kinds of things that will be specific to your home. 

Conduct a Walk Through

Walk through your home from one end to the other making notes of everything that may need to be repaired, replaced, or painted. I don’t dare write down what needs to be decluttered because that is pretty much the entire house.

Declutter

Declutter every room in your house. Once you believe you are finished decluttering an area, go back and declutter a little more. Try to envision your space from the perspective of a potential buyer. They don’t want to see your things, they want to envision their own things in your space. 

Create 3 piles; keep, garbage, and donate. There is a rule that if you haven’t worn an article of clothing in one year, get rid of it! Be sure to ask for the receipt when you donate to a local charity thrift store so you can get a credit on your taxes.

My story

While my husband and I were out viewing homes that we were interested in, we saw one with zero decluttering. The walls were buried under family photos and it made us feel like we were intruding. The rooms were decorated with their personal hobbies and travel collections which made us feel like we couldn’t get comfortable in this space. To this day, we have no idea what the house looked like because there was entirely too much stuff blocking our view of the house.

Clean, Clean, Clean

Be sure you are not only leaving your home decluttered but clean too, especially the kitchen and bathrooms. We have a handy free printable with spring cleaning chores you can grab.

Use our Speed Cleaning ideas to keep the house clean. Those showings always come at a bad time, don’t they!

My story

One of the houses we toured as a potential home was a rental being sold. I guess the tenant wasn’t too keen on moving because they left the house in a royal mess, not just messy but the house itself was dirty. We loved the neighborhood but were not interested in a house that appeared to need repairs.

Repairs

Once your realtor comes out to look at your home, he or she will give you a list of items you may need to repair.  This won’t come as a surprise to you since it is your home.

You could go ahead and make those repairs prior to inviting out the realtor which is what we did. It is also possible that the home inspection could yield repair(s). Be prepared.

My story

We knew our central air conditioner wasn’t performing as it should. So about a month or so before we were ready to list the house, we replaced the central unit. Yes, that is quite an expensive repair but, it immediately reduced our electric bill in our total electric home. Potential buyers would not want to buy a home that needed an expensive repair in the thousands of dollars. It had to be done.

Paint

We don’t tend to notice just how old our walls look until we view them from the perspective of a potential buyer. You may need to just do some touch-up painting or you may need to paint the whole house. In either case, be sure to use neutral colors. 

Curb Appeal

First impressions begin with curb appeal. That can mean adding new pine straw to flower beds and trimming overgrown hedges. It could mean cutting down dead trees. It most definitely means keeping the grass cut in the summer or snow plowed in the winter.

In our case, we gave our front porch a complete makeover, had a few dead trees cut down, and put fresh pine straw in all of the flower and shrub beds. See our Porch Makeover before and after right here.

How long did it take to sell our home?

We sold our home inside of one week. The very first person to view our home made a full asking offer with preapproval.

Our realtor complimented us on how well our home was ready to show with all of the work we put into it so I know these home selling tips actually do work.

However, we had not yet found our new home so we looked at a lot of houses in a little bit of time. We knew we had found the perfect home when we kept going back to see it again and again. After three times, we made the offer and started packing.

See my Most Userful Moving Packing and Moving Tips, What Worked and What Didn’t. Moving after 17 years in the same home was no small feat.

Below is the wreath I made and put on my front door before the realtor was ready to show the house. You can make one following my easy tutorial right here.

Print the Home Seller’s Checklist and get started! Good luck with the sale of your home and congratulations on the exciting journey.

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