How to Get a House Ready to Be Appraised

Video Transcript

"Hello. My name is Penny Smith. I'm a North Carolina real estate broker. And I'd like to talk to you today about how to get my house ready to be appraised. When you are trying to sell you home for the highest possible price, you want your home to look absolutely as best as it can. Like the absolute diamond and gem that it is. An appraiser will see that. So the first appearance of your home is absolutely the most important. The second appearance of your home is the interior. And that is equally as important. Needs to be de-cluttered and cleaned and absolutely look the best that it could possibly look. Couple of old tricks that real estate agents use is that we will take a little bit of cinnamon and vanilla and put it on a piece of paper towel, and put it in the microwave for 10 seconds. Then open the door and let that paper towel just fill the aroma of the room, and through out the house. Do that about 15 minutes or 20 minutes before an appraiser comes to the door. So you'll have time to throw the paper towel away and the aroma will reach all the way back to the back bedrooms. And not be nearly as strong in the kitchen. The other thing we know to do is very slowly a little Pine-Sol. Citrus Pine-Sol works best, down the kitchen sink and in the bathroom sinks. So that the Pine-Sol will sit in the little catch elbow at the bottom of the sink. The smell will whiff up through the air and absolutely fill the room with a light citrusy smell. When you're going to have your house appraised I also recommend that you open the house up. Let as much light flood into the house, even if you have to turn the interior lights on so that the house is bright, cheery, welcoming to that appraiser. Also remove any animals completely from the property the day the appraiser is coming out. So that he doesn't feel that he cannot take his time because of a distressed animal. Or that he doesn't feel threatened by that animal. Remove animals from the property. Those are some of the recommendations that I make on how to get my house ready for an appraisal. Hope you have a good day. Thank you."