Sell Your Home in Autumn

• Selling a house in autumn requires some special touches to make the home attractive.
• A clean yard with popular autumn flowers and spotless windows makes your house stand out.
• New air filters, a fireplace without ashes, and fall treats help the interior of your home feel clean and welcoming.
• The right music and colors can create a fall feeling that that makes your home warm and inviting.

How to Prepare Your Home to Sell in Autumn:

Create Autumn Curb Appeal

The most popular autumn flowers are chrysanthemums (or mums), and they bloom for a long time. Marigolds are another idea for fall. Both mums and marigolds are available in yellow, which is my number one home selling color. Plant them in pots. Place pots on the steps and along the sidewalk. Accent with pumpkins or other types of squash.

Dress the Windows

Rain and wind from over the summer months can make your windows dusty and streaked by autumn. You might not notice smudges, but buyers will, if only on a subconscious level. Your windows need to sparkle to sell a home. Maybe your cats routinely rub their little noses on the inside glass while walking along window ledges. You’ll need to wash windows inside and out every autumn. Remove screens, and spray them down.

Utilize Autumn Accent Colors

You don’t need to dump a lifeless sofa when you can accessorize its dullness with bright red, orange and/or golden yellow pillows. Toss a quilt or autumn-colored throw over a chair. After you’ve cleared away the clutter and depersonalized each room, bring a few autumn hues to each room by placing bold-colored accent pieces in odd groupings such as threes and fives. Create an autumn centerpiece for the dining room table by arranging pine cones and nuts around orange candles, stick in a few leaves from the yard.

You want the air inside your home to smell fresh. When was the last time you changed your furnace filter? You can buy 90-day furnace filters. Check the HVAC system before you need to turn on the heater. Besides, the buyer will ask a home inspector to look at your HVAC. If you discover problems with your furnace, it’s better to fix them before your home goes on the market.

Clean Out the Fireplace for the Fall Real Estate Market

Ah, nothing smells like autumn than smoke from a wood-burning fireplace. However, in some parts of the country, burning wood indoors or outdoors is outlawed. In Sacramento, we have certain days when we are not allowed to burn wood in the fireplace. If you have a gas fireplace, light it when buyers come through. If the fireplace is filled with cobwebs because it hasn’t been used for months, vacuum it out and wash it down. Some ​home stagers arrange knickknacks in the fireplace in place of wood logs.