Fell Out of Love with Your Home? Tips to Prep Your Home for Listing

We think about the relationships with our family, our loved ones and our friends often enough, but we tend to forget about the other big relationship we have in our lives: Where we live. The house or apartment, the neighborhood, the city. It's a relationship that requires upkeep and tenderness, like all others. And when it's suffering, it can cause a whole lot of suffering in your life. Here's what to do if you find yourself falling out of love with your home.

There are lots of reasons why you could be falling out of love with your home. Maybe your house has become too small to fit your needs. Perhaps your neighborhood and city have changed around you, too. Maybe traffic's worst than it's ever been. Maybe you are just ready to make your move to something different. If you need to sell your current home in order to buy a new one there are tips to help you get started.

Here are 8 ways you can prepare your Home to get back in the market and meet new people (buyers):

1. Repaint the walls neutral colors. As much as you love your dramatic red dining room, it could turn off a good portion of your buyers. So repaint your rooms in neutral tones like tans and whites that allow buyers to focus on the spaces themselves, not the color of the walls.
2. Keep the décor simple. To help buyers imagine themselves in your space, get rid of any art or other décor that might turn off people with different tastes. A classic landscape painting? Totally fine. Your zebra print leather couch? Might want to slipcover that for showings.
3. Do a faux “renovation.” Little tweaks can make a big difference in the overall feel of a room. Kitchen a little outdated? Replace the fixtures, faucets and hinges. Family room furniture beaten up? Throw some slipcovers over it.
4. Give each room a purpose. That spare room you’ve been using as an office / guest room /dumping ground won’t help sell your home unless you show buyers how they can use it themselves. So pick a use (office, guest room, crafts room) and clearly stage the space to showcase that purpose.
5. Turn the living room into conversation central. Help buyers picture themselves relaxing with family and guests by grouping your furniture into arrangements that inspire conversation.
6. Keep the flow going. The last thing you want is people bumping into furniture as they tour your home; it disrupts their focus and makes your space look cramped. Do a dry run as though you’re seeing your home for the first time and tweak anything that interrupts the “flow.”
7. Highlight focal points. Draw buyers’ eyes towards any special features with bright colors or accents like plants. A pop of red throw pillows can draw a buyer’s attention to that lovely window seat. A striking fern on the mantle can show off your fireplace.
8. Boost the curb appeal. Don’t spend all your time indoors. More than one buyer has decided not to even enter a home based on its curb appeal, so make sure your home’s exterior looks excellent. Trim your shrubs, weed your flower beds, fix any peeling paint and keep the walkway clear. Just adding a row of potted plants along the walkway or a cheerful wreath to your front door can make a big difference.