Tips for Preparing Your NYC Apartment for a Sale

Perhaps you are outgrowing your first apartment or finally landed that dream job in another city. Whatever the reason, when you need to sell your home, you must sell it at the best price and at the right time. The situation is more urgent if your next home purchase depends on selling your current apartment. First, depersonalize and disassociate yourself from the apartment. Make peace that this will soon no longer be your home. Letting go of a place that’s been your home for years cannot be easy, but you’ve got to take a break from it.

Emotions only get in the way of a sale. Depersonalize the apartment by packing away personal belongings. If you’ve been living there for many years and have become attached to it, then take some time to say goodbye and remember the memories. The way to look now is forward to the future, not backward.

Buyers have a hard time seeing past family photographs and personal effects. Instead, you want them to picture their photos on the walls. Declutter everything and store them somewhere buyers won’t find them during a viewing. It might be worth temporally renting out a storage unit.

Find a Real Estate Listing Agent

This first step seems basic but is the most important one you can make. Your listing agent will have the experience, tools, and marketing abilities that help your home sell more quickly than you can alone. For example, your agent can price your home appropriately the first time and get maximum home exposure on the market — both online and in your area. Sometimes owners try to sell their homes by themselves to save money, but ultimately these people miss out on a real estate agent’s professional insight.

What Home Improvements May Payoff?

Move-in-ready homes are more desirable to standard buyers. If you invest in some attractive updates before you sell, you can expect higher-priced offers. Though there is a market for fixer-uppers, a home without updates in dubious condition will likely sell at a lower price. If you choose not to pay for any updates or maintenance, your home will sell at a lower price, or repairs will be negotiated into the offer. On the other hand, remarks about new appliances and newly refinished hardwood floors can generate more mainstream interest and justify a home’s higher listing price. Ultimately, you will need to decide which investments will benefit you in a sale.

Make Your Apartment Appealing to Target Buyers

Your agent is your best resource for marketing your apartment correctly. They will emphasize and story tell your home’s best features and advantages to appeal to your potential buyers in the listing. For example, is it suitable for commuters? Are you located on a quiet cul-de-sac? A great deal? Your home’s value and condition will determine the target “customer persona.” Your agent is adept at tailoring your listing to your expected buyers.

However, if your home is affordable, you won’t have as many marketing needs. For example, high-end homes do not have as many qualified buyers, so the marketing must be aggressive in showing off your home’s best assets. So a good rule to follow is this: as the listing price rises, you need more bells and whistles to sell your home quickly.

Prepare Your NYC Apartment for Photos

Though sprucing up your apartment involves a bit of investment on your end, it will attract more interested and committed buyers. Also, you will have more negotiating power during the contract phase when your home is in pristine condition. Finally, to get the most out of your home’s market value, you should beautify your home’s interior and give your walls a fresh coat of paint. These touch-ups will make your home’s photos more appealing to prospective buyers.

Make minor repairs

Assumedly, at this point, you’ve already handled any significant repairs and renovations. Now is not the time to start dealing with those termites or leaking roofs. NYC is a buyer’s market now, so it needs fixing no matter how small a problem may seem. It might even be worth hiring a home inspector to look at the apartment for any issues you mightn’t have noticed. Common minor repairs include:

• Leaky faucets
• Burned out lightbulbs
• Doors that don’t close properly
• Cracked floor or counter tiles
• Crumbling plaster

Perform a deep clean

With the apartment decluttered and all minor repairs, it’s time to make the place shine. This cleaning calls for far more than your usual weekly or day-to-day cleaning. It could take days, and you may want to consider hiring professional help. Leave no stone unturned and give serious attention to everything.

• Clean out the refrigerator
• Scrub the oven clean
• Wash windows inside and out (if possible)
• Wax floors
• Have any carpets professionally deep cleaned
• Dust furniture, ceiling fan blades, and light fixtures
• Hang up fresh towels
• Polish chrome faucets and sinks
• Bleach tiles

Move out

It won’t be a viable option for everyone, but moving out anywhere in the cards will make for a quicker sale. Also, if you’ve been diligent in hiring a good sales agent, you can trust them to handle things from there. So why not leave them to get along with it?

Don’t take it personally. It’s just that buyers find it hard to envision themselves living there if you’re hovering around. If you can fully move out, the place won’t need to be, cleaned every time a new viewing is done. You can expect your NYC apartment to sell in less time than otherwise.

Plan Staging for Your NYC Apartment

Having come this far, it’s worth considering going further and preparing your apartment for an open house. Not everyone will have the funds to afford home staging, but you can ill afford not to do one in today’s market. A professional stager will bring in extra furniture that can help highlight the apartment’s best features. Buyers tend to have a good idea of what they’re looking for in a home, and a professional home stager will know how to stage a home to make it appeal to a broader audience of buyers.