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You can avoid making mistakes by following these 11 ideas to help sell your home in Costa Rica. Selling a house can take years for different reasons. So, what can you do as a seller to sell your house as fast as possible? The short version is to clean up your mess before you put your property on the market. Remove everything that will bother the buyer. Then, maintain it well and go through the list before every showing. That will help to sell.
These words don’t sound very friendly, but some sellers only understand them this way. Quite a few homes for sale in Costa Rica are in terrible shape or look like they are. Staging a house before showings is an exception. Often, the sellers think the house didn’t sell quickly enough due to the real estate agent’s lousy salesmanship. But I have news for you. I just admit that most real estate agents do not give any recommendations to the seller when they list the house, either.
First of all, homes that sell quickly are always priced right. Discuss the price with your agent.
But besides that critical fact, 8 details to take care of are:
- A nice looking garden
- Clear up kitchen and bathroom countertops
- All the curtains open
- Uncluttered rooms
- Look well painted,
- A nicely painted front door
- No dog poop in the hallway
- Made up beds
Amongst other facts that I’m not getting into now.
What needs to be done
Most of the time, nobody seems to be in a hurry to sell. So when I list a property for sale, I go through the property with the camera in hand, trying to find the right angles for a nice slideshow and look at how well the property looks. Then, I’ll tell the sellers that everything they have lying around will make the difference between selling and wasting everyone’s time and efforts. Cleaning and clearing up will help selling.
Besides painting, cleaning, and other logical things you need to get done before putting your house on the market, I’d like you to do something else. So here is a list of 11 ideas for removing unnecessary stuff before we show your property to a prospective buyer shopping for a home in Costa Rica.
Please Remove the Following
Review this list every time half an hour before the showing.
1. Yourselves
Sellers seem to need social contact with the buyers during showings. Personal involvement is not a good idea! Buyers are uncomfortable with the seller being present during showings. Please say hi at the door and then disappear. Or stay away altogether. Allow the agents to do their job.
2. Personal photos
Buyers DO get distracted by them, especially if you have walls full of them. Get rid of them.
3. Bills and personal papers
Do you have power bills and other “to be paid” invoices on the counter or kitchen table? That is like an invitation for the buyers to “peek” at them. As a seller, you don’t want to give buyers the temptation. Could you get rid of them, please?
4. Money
Most people (and real estate agents) going through your home are honest. But I don’t want to test those waters. If you have cash, cash boxes, or coin jars in the open… put them away. It’s just safer for everyone if it’s out of sight.
5. Valuables
Jewelry, valuable antiques, watches… anything that might have a value that you wouldn’t want to lose. If buyers don’t see it lying around, they won’t think about it. I can’t tell you how many homes I’ve been in where the jewelry is left behind on the dresser… somehow, it feels uncomfortable. Would you mind putting it away?
6. Guns and ammo
Lots of homeowners in Costa Rica have firearms. If you’re one, put them away in a safe place away from where visitors can get to it quickly. Don’t forget that many buyers open closets and drawers to see how much closet space there is.
7. Shoes!
If you have a pile of shoes at the door… ask yourself why. A pile of shoes gives a buyer the impression that the house for sale does not have enough closet space. So please put them away; it will help sell the house. If you want buyers to take off their shoes for cultural reasons, please have slippers for those visitors. If you don’t, you might lose a potential buyer.
8. Medicines
Don’t store them on the counter, cabinet, or bathroom. Could you remove them, please? Potential buyers’ have stolen medicine out of the cabinets, although it has never happened on my showings, or maybe I didn’t notice? But to avoid any trouble, it’s best to remove it.
9. Everything on the kitchen counter
Everything? Really? Yup. The cleaner you can leave the counter, the more buyers dream of purchasing the house and using that counter space. Could you clean it up? The counters look so much more prominent if there is nothing on them.
10. No more junk drawers
I’m serious. Clean them out. There is nothing worse than a potential buyer opening the cupboards and drawers and having things sticking out everywhere. Box up all the notes, pens, tacks, and odds and ends and put them away. You probably don’t dig in the drawer often anyway.
11. The magnet collection
Nothing but magnets… and not only those. Take a photo of your fridge, take everything off, wash the front (and side), and take another picture.
It is refreshing to walk into a home with a clean fridge. However, a fridge is not decorative. Nonetheless, it is more of a distraction to the room than a help to sell. Consider it.
There are many more ways to make a home for sale look good. So keep following my blogs, and let’s do this together. Don’t complain. If you want to sell your house and don’t want to cooperate, please ask another real estate agent to list your home. You don’t know how bad it feels to show a home falling apart (or looking like it) and then get a lowball offer because the house simply looks terrible.
Are you motivated to sell? Then contact us now for more information on selling your home.
