Sellers, do you know which extra touches really grab the attention of home-buyers in the Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater area?

When marketing your home, it is important to know which extra touches will make your home stand out from the crowd. Upgrades like granite counters, sprinkler systems and new bathrooms are pretty obvious and grab everyone's attention. But as an agent, I see some sellers who misunderstand the difference between and Update and an Upgrade.

For example, lets say the homes in your neighborhood were all built in the mid '90s, with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and between 1300 and 1700 square feet, on a 0.20 acre lot fenced with 6 ft cedar. They all had the same builder package of flooring and trim and oak cabinetry, and came standard with a forced air heating system, lapped siding and comp roof.

If your home still resembles this, you probably have a nice, sellable house. But you have options for Upgrading and really standing out, as well as some possible Updates you may need to consider.
Let's analyze a couple things:

Roof- An early 90's roof may need to be replaced- they really don't last long around here with the rain, the windstorms and the tree branches. Leaks are bad. Updating an old roof is something Buyers expect. 
Kitchen- Is your kitchen still a golden oak color with laminate counters and white appliance? Most buyers think this is a solid choice and are happy to buy a home with these features.

But what if you are in competition against 12 homes in your neighborhood?
This is where your upgrades help.
Kitchens are one of the places in a home that you will almost always get more back than you put into it, dollar wise. And there is an oft repeated truism that a "Kitchen Sells a Home". Outshining the competition is the best way to make it work for you. And it can have a positive impact on your sales price too!

And at the other end of the spectrum from upgrades is Obsolescence.
That is when the floorplan, or some other design element, falls short of the expected norm of the current market.

Let's say you are competing with those same 12 houses above. Your home has many of the same qualities of the other homes, but... you took out one of the bedrooms by removing a wall and that you have baseboard heaters.
Buyers looking at homes in your Olympia area neighborhood are almost specifically saying they want at least three bedrooms- because of future resale value, they have multiple children, or they want office space. They also dislike the costs associated with base-board heating, because gas is still less expensive than electric. 
In a Buyer's mind, these issues will cause them to devalue your property and take dollars OFF the price, if they make an offer. So updating these issues is a very smart move too.

You update your home to make it more livable and keep it current with existing housing trends, and to make sure the home is in good repair. Repairing your Furnace is an upDATE- it is supposed to work, and no buyer will pay extra for it. The same goes for a roof in good repair.
An upGRADE is that something extra no other home offers and makes the Buyers say "I want that!". How about a High Efficiency furnace with Heat Pump!

Don't forget, when it comes time to sell your Olympia area home, you need to know what is considered essential, what is outdated and what is the real 'gem' all the buyers would love to have.