7 Tips to Get Your Home Ready to Sell

The Columbus market isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

May of 2025 saw 924 new listings hit the market and 930 homes get sold, with a total of 3,441 active listings in Columbus.

That’s a lot of houses for sale.

Looking at data, around 79% of those will go into contract within the first 30 days. After that, the percentage significantly drops to only 15% between 30-90 days.

These numbers aren’t to scare potential sellers, but to educate them on what we’re seeing in the market right now. Homes can and will move after that 90 day span, but it does get more difficult from that point.

To give a home it’s best possible chance to go to the market and into contract soon after, the sellers might need to do some prep work on it. How intensely depends on the homes individual needs and the sellers motivation, but historically the more work done to get a house ready ahead of time, the less trouble it will have finding a buyer quickly.

After working to get many homes ready for the market over the years, here is what we’ve learned helps sellers the most.

1. Depersonalize The Home

The first thing we tell any client that is looking to sell their home?

Take the “you” out of it.

Potential buyers may love the previous owners choice of leopard print wallpaper with velvet furniture… or they may immediately write the home off because of it.

Sure, they would be able to change everything if they bought it, but a lot of people won’t even get to the point of considering it. If they only can see the previous owners in the house, and can’t picture themselves, it’s quickly onto the next one.

To avoid this problem, we tell sellers to remove as many of their personal touches as possible. Photos, décor, etc. If it isn’t neutral, pack it up!

If you create a blank slate for potential buyers imaginations to run wild with possibilities, the odds that one will jump on the chance to make their dream a reality skyrocket.

2. Repaint in Neutrals

Paint color can transform a  home. The right color can make a room feel open and inviting, while the wrong one can immediately make a room feel loud and claustrophobic.

An owner may really love vivid colors, but a potential buyer may not. To make a home appeal to as many buyers as possible, we recommend repainting the interior in light, neutral colors. Painting is also recommended if the interior or exterior paint is old and needs retouched in general.

A buyer can paint the home once they get it of course, but a freshly repainted home is going to be a lot more appealing. It’s one less thing to cross off of their to-do list and immediately adds more value to the home. 

3. Deep Clean

A lot of people would be surprised how much a good deep clean can transform a home from “just okay” to “must see.”

Listen, no judgement here. Life happens, and keeping a home spotless may be low on the priority list day-to-day. Whether it’s been a week or a few years since the last deep clean, though, it does need to be a priority when getting ready to list your home.

Selling a home involves a lot of eyes looking at a lot of small details. The owner may have missed the dust on the baseboards or the ceiling fans, but the potential owner may not. It is their rightful job as a buyer to be thorough with their possible investment, so it’s up to the seller to present their home in the best condition from the moment a buyer steps foot through the front door.

4. Make Necessary Repairs

When we say make necessary repairs, we mean the big stuff. Is the foundation under the home slightly cracking? Has water gotten into the basement and caused damage? Is the driveway filled with cracks and holes from wear and tear? Is it a liability for anyone parking there? Minor fixes can be remedied pretty easily by the Seller or Buyer, but the large problems should be dealt with ideally before the home ever hits the market.

It may be a bigger upfront cost for the Seller, but it will save them time and money further into the process of selling.

The banks that fund the mortgage loans need to make sure that the house they’re providing money for isn’t going to crumble in a year or two. If they find a big problem during the inspection or appraisal, like water damage or a cracked foundation, they may not fund the home until it’s fixed. It’s better for a Seller to get ahead of that conversation so that the process can be as smooth as possible.

A large chunk of money to fix these things may not sound appealing, but it will save a lot of headaches and add more money to the value and selling price of the home.

5. Stage The Home

Deep cleaning and depersonalizing are a great start to give a blank slate to the home, but staging can take it to an entirely different level.

A professional stager knows exactly how to create a neutral, comfortable space for potential buyers to see themselves in. They can bring in beds, décor, art, linens, etc. to warm the space up while not adding a specific personal touch.

Small décor details aren’t necessarily make or break, but they can add a little extra something that could push a potential buyer to make an offer. Adding cookbooks to the kitchen doesn’t seem like a big deal to many, but maybe a Buyer who can’t wait to get into their own kitchen for the first time really appreciates the added touch. Maybe, it made all the difference in deciding between this home and the last empty one.

 6. Enhance Curb Appeal

Picture: two almost identical homes next to each other. Both are on the market to be sold.

The first home is surrounded by lush, healthy greenery. There are fresh flowers planted in the garden bed up front, and the grass is healthy and cut in both the front and back. More fresh flowers and even a vegetable garden bed are out back, ready to be harvested.

Meanwhile, the second home is surrounded by greenery that is brown in spots and dead in others. There are mud spots where grass used to be throughout the front and back, with patches of dead grass all around. Weeds are overtaking the yard and garden beds. It looks like the grass hasn’t been cut in weeks, maybe months.

If everything else is the same, who is going to get an offer first? Our money is on home #1.

If given the choice between a well-maintained, healthy yard or one that is going to take a lot of work to get in the same condition, the former wins every time.

Enhance curb appeal, enhance opportunities.

7. Meet With a Trusted Real Estate Agent

Every tip given above has been a tip that was learned firsthand through experience.

Real estate agents, especially ones that have been in the business for a while, have seen it all. They have walked through every type of home imaginable. Bad staging? No staging? Meticulously cleaned? Dust caking the blinds? Small cracks in the basement wall? They’ve seen it. They’ve judged it. They’ve given advice to their clients to write an offer or pass based on all of it.  

This is why using a trusted real estate agent to help sell a home is highly recommended. Sure, it’s not a necessity, but real estate is a language that not a lot of people can speak well.

 If the Seller uses a real estate agent that knows what they’re talking about, their home will most likely be in contract before there’s time to question if the agent is worth it.

Agents can be chosen in a few different ways. The Seller can interview multiple agents and pick the one that they get on with the best, or the one with the best results; it’s up to whatever criteria they think most important. That, or they can use an agent with an already established personal relationship with them or a close friend that they trust. Either way, the choice is completely up to the Seller.