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| Don't Forget to Clean Your Garage! |
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You’re ready to relax after finishing up “the last” of the tasks to get your
home ready for potential buyers. You are feeling pretty good; your house screams
curb appeal, the walkway is freshly swept, the interior is freshly painted,
the sun is shining through the windows, and the smell of fresh flowers is
in the air. Your house couldn’t be any more ready for potential home buyers.
Right?
Wrong! Many sellers tend to dedicate their time focusing to the “Big Picture”
– the inside of their home, exterior landscaping, etc., while a not-so-obvious
place gets neglected – The Garage!
It is important to realize that garage space is very important to many
homeowners: clean up the clutter, reorganize the shelves, and
spend some time getting the boxes and junk off the floor.
Your end goal should be to have a clean and organized garage that can
function as a workshop, storage area, or just a garage! The condition of your
garage probably won’t be a breaking point of a sale, but it could be an important
point to potential buyers.
Here are some useful tips and reminders to help get your garage ready for “Showtime”: |
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- Your garage door should be fully functional and should able to open and close
smoothly with minimal effort and noise. Spray some WD40 on squeaky spots
if needed. If you have a garage door opener, be sure to test the system
and remote ahead of time, as well as any additional features, such
as the light, auto-stop or auto-reverse, emergency release, manual
operation, wall switch or code entry, etc.
- Get organized! If you are getting your house ready to sell, you will
probably be moving in a few months, and, since “there is no time like
the present”, now is as good a time as any to go through all those boxes
and get rid of some junk. You can get started by making three piles:
- Stuff you want to keep and move with you
- Stuff for yard sale or charity
- Stuff to take to the dump
Your ultimate goal should be to get all items off the floor and neatly
stored on shelving. This will make your garage look bigger to potential
buyers.
- Don’t forget to straighten up your work area. Put tools away and clean up
your workspace. Keep power tools up on higher shelves or in a tool cabinet.
Clean up all sawdust, metal shavings, chemicals/paint spills, etc.
so prospective buyers don’t get dirty from visiting your home.
- Do a quick safety check of your garage. Put any chemicals or toxic items on
higher shelves or in a locked storage cabinet. Make sure large items like
ladders, bikes, etc. are safely put away. For added organization you can
install some storage hooks (available at your local hardware store) and get
bulky items up off the floor.
- Sweep the floor and spray it down. You don’t have
to eradicate every spot on your garage floor, but spending a few minutes
getting the cobwebs out of the corners and sweeping up the layer of dust
will definitely make your garage look cleaner.
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Keller Williams Realty
11515 Burnham Drive N.W.
Gig Harbor, WA 98332
Office: 253.851.4511 |
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