Autumn Selling

This is the second installment in a four-part series called, "Seasons of Change: Preparing Your Home for Sale in Each Season."

Putting your home on the market is easy - getting it ready for sale is the challenge.  Sure, you can slap a price on your house and quickly list it.  But if you want to get the best selling price, a few steps of preparation go a long way. This preparation is known as "home staging" - making your home cleaner, brighter, and less cluttered.  Depersonalizing and neutralizing the space helps potential buyers picture themselves settling in and feeling at home.

Denise Tetmeyer and Connie Johnson, sisters and co-owners of Creighton Manor in Clayton, N.C., have some expert tips on what to do this fall.  Their shop is filled with fine furnishings, home accessories, and gifts.  Creighton Manor's staff is well versed in interior design, yielding some great autumn-specific ideas. Begin with the outside, paying attention to the first impression effect known as "curb appeal."  Make sure your yard is well-manicured.  Mow the grass, rake the leaves, and neatly trim shrubs and bushes.  Removing yard clutter such as toys is a given, but also remember to remove the spider webs near doors and corners. 

Take curb appeal a step further by planting beautiful fall flowers in planters.  A local garden center can help you choose flowers that complement the color of your home.  Outdoor living has become extremely popular, and you can enhance the effect with a simple patio seating arrangement in the back.  You might even purchase an attractive, inexpensive fire pit for your backyard.  Lighting it during a showing is probably a step too far, but the subtle suggestion of an outdoors autumn fire will delight buyers.

Inside your home, the same principles of cleaning, simplifying, and decluttering apply.  Two of the least expensive ways to give your interior a bright facelift are to apply a fresh coat of paint and clean the windows until they sparkle. Consider hiring an interior designer to walk through your home and give you some ideas on how to make each room flow into the next.  You don't need to invest a lot of money - simply pay for their advice and do it yourself if you can.  Sometimes you only need to rearrange furniture to open the room or make it closer for inviting conversation. 

Also make sure your home is well-lit, taking advantage of lamps and dimmer switches to create a warm, inviting glow.  Sometimes bright lights are appropriate, but not always.  You might want to fill your bath or Jacuzzi with water and bath salts, but be sure the agent stays with children if you do this.

If you have a fireplace, turn it on.  Or create a cozy environment by putting a pie in the oven (it doesn't have to be homemade!) or burn gently-scented candles.  These are all different approaches to appeal to the buyers' senses.  Another way to get a fresh perspective - a true "outsider's perspective," if you will - is to peek into your home from outside the windows.  Tetmeyer has tried this several times, and asks herself: What kind of feeling does it create?  Does it look like a picture in a magazine?  If not, spending a few hundred dollars for a room makeover may mean the difference between receiving the home's market price or several thousand dollars more.

For more ideas and accessories to update your home, visit Creighton Manor in Clayton, N.C.  Their large selection of lamps, pillows, candles, and other home adornments offers great ways to change the whole look of a room.

Autumn is a wonderful time to show your home when the warm glow of lights, the beautiful colors of leaves, and the smell of comforting foods are all at their peak.  Remember this exciting process is also an adventure for the buyer.  With some careful attention to the creation of an inviting atmosphere, buyers will want to stay in your cozy home for a long time.

For more about Creighton Manor's home furnishings, accessories, and expert interior design advice, contact 919-553-7959 or email creightonmanor@earthlink.net.