Top 5 Things to sell your home

JOHN RICE ASSOCIATE BROKER | REALTOR

The Top 5 Steps To Help You Sell Your Home

With now through mid August being the strongest market of the year we are re-posting our blog post from Early Spring. This includes an informative outline of what a seller should consider before placing their home on the market.

Before placing your home on the market there are some considerations to make. Think back to when you purchased your home. How did it smell? How clean was it? Did this affect your opinion of how the home owners were keeping up the house? Often, a buyer will perceive what is seen on the surface as a reflection of how well you’ve cared for the house while living there. A clean house with well oiled doors and clean windows and cupboards that close is often perceived as a house that has been well cared for. With that in mind read on….

The Top 5 Steps To Help You Sell Your Home

So you’re thinking of placing your home on the market? Be sure to consider these 5 steps before the sign goes in the yard.

1. Curb Appeal: What does your home look like from the outside? Is it such that a buyer would want to come in? The buyers’ first impression is very important to drawing them to the interior of the home. Make sure your exterior is well manicured; cut the grass, trim the shrubs, eliminate weeds from cracks in pavement, scrub down the front door and wash all the windows. This shows the buyer how well you take care of your home.

2. Clutter Be Gone: Clear entryways and hallways making it easy for the buyers to move throughout your home. Clean off counter tops in bathrooms and kitchens and rid them of clutter. Take good inventory of items that can be given away or thrown away – shoving them a closet won’t help – buyers open closets and drawers too! Speaking of closets, organize them – showing ease of use and plenty of space. If you need to, consider renting a storage unit for off-season items.

3. Hammer & Nail: If there are small items around the house that need fixing correct them. A home that shows it’s been well maintained is received positively. If the cabinet door sticks, or there are areas that could use patching, consider doing these before you let the buyers in.

4. K.I.N.: Keep It Neutral! Paint is one of the least expensive ways to improve the appearance of a space. Buyers these days prefer light, neutral colors. While painting a room will not usually yield a higher sale price it can GREATLY assist in your home selling sooner. Dark paints can make a room look smaller and don’t reflect the light as well and stronger colors can inhibit many buyers from envisioning themselves living in the home.

5. Soap & Water: Cleaning can do wonders for the appeal of your home. Clean carpets, shine wood floors, scrub the tile and wipe down the baseboards –and that’s just the floors! Consider cleaning every inch of the bathrooms and replace the shower curtain if necessary. For the kitchen clean the cupboards and the both the stove top and the oven. When it comes to dusting replace your furnace filter first! Then dust away all those dust bunnies. By replacing your filter first you will have less of a likelihood of the dust returning so quickly.

By following these 5 steps you’re well on your way to having your home prepared. Now it’s time to call us and we’ll walk through the home with “buyer eyes” assisting you by pointing out items that a buyer may notice. Small corrections can go a LONG way!


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A few words from our clients:
We moved to the Grand Rapids area 11 years ago and John was very patient as we found our first home and made the experience absolutely seamless! When we were ready to sell and buy again we knew to reach out to John. As we remembered and appreciated, John is an absolute professional and was and advocate for our best interests at all times during this wild market. We found great value in our new home and he helped us get top dollar for our sale. Grateful to have him on our side though the whole process. You won’t be disappointed!
Lance W
Purchased and sold with John, he is: Professional, an extremely good communicator, precise, and acted on our behalf 24/7. He kept us up to date on listings for purchase and preparation advice for selling our home. He was knowledgeable about neighborhoods. Photography for sale of our house was impressive. We were appreciative of the guidance regarding making offers, inspections, when to list our home, writing contracts, detailed review and presentation of offers on our home and being realistic about our purchase of new home. Great experience, Great Realtor.
J&G Junod
John Rice is hands down one of the best realtors in the Grand Rapids and surrounding areas. We have utilized him as our realtor on two separate occasions, once over 10 years ago, and again over the last several months to buy/sell. He is incredibly knowledgeable and uses his expertise to help guide you in your choices throughout the realty process. He is professional, kind, has impeccable attention to detail, responsive, and clearly loves what he does. Choose John for your realty needs…he is the best of the best!
Amanda W
We have worked with John multiple times now, both buying and selling homes. We 100% recommend him and he’ll always be our go-to realtor for any future real estate needs. John is experienced in the industry and well-known and respected. He is extremely professional and knowledgeable, on top of being an all-around nice guy. He is responsive and answered all of our questions along the way. We asked John for several referrals for other services (lender, cleaner, etc.) and we were very happy with all his suggestions. John is honest and will listen to your concerns/opinions. He is never pushy, but gives great advice based on his years of experience. We are so thankful for the guidance we received from John to make our recent home buying and selling experience successful and quick! If you need a realtor, call John.
G&E Webb
We have worked with John to sell 1 home and buy 2 homes and he is an incredible realtor! He is professional, prompt with communication, honest and patient. We had quite the list for what we were looking for and John was always available to answer questions and get us in to look at a home. His knowledge and connections in the industry made both the buying and selling process go smoothly. We simply cannot recommend John enough!
Chase and Nicole O
We can’t say enough good things about John. He is an awesome realtor! We bought our home with his help and just recently sold it with his help. He is highly knowledgeable about the Grand Rapids area market and his expertise and professionalism has shown through both times we worked with him...John is a wonderful communicator and a genuine person. His sincerity has been evident in his commitment to making the purchase and sale experience as seamless and informed as possible. We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to have worked with John and strongly recommend him without reservation!
E&T VanBuskirk
It was a wonderful experience working with John. His professionalism, honesty, experience, and knowledge of the Grand Rapids market, helped us in multiple ways. John sold our home in one day, was honest about what we could expect from offers, and was spot on. As we progressed toward finding our new home, again, he was extremely knowledgeable about the neighborhoods, home values, and history of the homes. We are more than happy to say, that he helped us find our dream home within our budget! Anything I needed, he was there through emails, texts, or phone calls. He definitely put in a lot of work for us. Without a doubt, I will ask for his assistance again when the time comes. Thank you John!
T&A Lascari
John helped us sell our house when we moved out of Grand Rapids 3 years ago and recently helped us purchase a new house when we moved back. He is very professional and knowledgeable of the area and market. I would recommend him to anyone looking to buy or sell.
S&K Weber