Sellers
Sell Your Orlando FL Home Quickly
By Mary Luster

Do you have to offer a cruise, plasma TV, or spend a fortune on advertising to sell your Orlando FL real estate fast?  In the short run, these basics may work even better.  If you price it right, keep it well maintained, and live in a good location, the home should move within six weeks.  Show the Windermere, Ocoee, Gotha, or Winter Garden home in SW Orlando FL in the best light possible.

We already know that we have a good location for selling homes in Orlando.  A professional realtor can guide you in the pricing decision and will provide market information for similar real estate in Orlando—from Isleworth and Bay Hill south to Keene’s Pointe, Lake Butler Sound, Cypress Point, Turtle Creek, and Vizcaya.

So, the only remaining task is to look at your dear Orlando property with a critical eye and list all of the areas that need improvement.  Look for broken tiles, the condition of the mailbox, debris like accumulated fallen leaves, and the floors.  Ask yourself or your realtor what could be done to welcome a new owner.  Here are some examples of positive changes:

1.  Paint.  Fresh paint does wonders for a room.  In fact, most likely there is a best color for each room.  If you choose carefully, testing colors in various lighting before applying them to entire rooms, you will find that paint color alone can make or break a first impression. 

2. Color.  If everything in your home is white or beige, add some accents such as an inexpensive but colorful painting, a large vase, and throw pillows to coordinate.  Likewise, if you have painted walls a bright orange or red, consider lightening them up before showing the home.

3. Floors.  This is a great time to install new carpet if you can afford it and to refinish hardwood floors.  New flooring makes a home smell and feel brand new and takes years off of the appearance of the home.  At the very least, the carpets need to be professionally cleaned to remove dirt, stains, and odors.

4. Landscape.  Plant joyful flowers where the yard looks worn, around the mailbox, at the entrance.  Be sure that deadfall and hedges are trimmed and that the lawn is well kept.

5. Stage.  If you are moving out before showing the home, consider asking your realtor to help stage each room.  Sometimes it is possible to rent furniture or, depending on the size of the home, to pick up a few thousand dollars of furniture to sell with the home.  The idea is to make buyers feel comfortable and right at home the moment that they walk in the door.

For buyers, the first impression is a lasting one.  Money spent on maintaining your home and properly showing it is an investment in your sale.  We’ve heard many stories about sellers who install fresh new carpet and sell the home to the first person that walks in the door. 

For more information on preparing your home for sale, staging it, or our property management services, call Mary Luster at (407) 909-2604.