When marketing your home for sale, among all the preparation that must be done to make your home stand out amongst the competition, you also need to consider your home's appeal. The appeal of your home may not result in a direct increase of the market value of your home. However, it can certainly help.
Items that add value to your home include the home's square footage, the granite kitchen and the covered porch. They may not add as much value as their original cost, but they certainly do add some value.
Items that add to the appeal of your home include the freshly-painted front door, the neatly trimmed plants and hedges along the front walkway, the sparkling-shiny kitchen sink and counters, the welcoming floral arrangement in your entry foyer. You get the idea.
We cannot always put a dollar amount on these appeal items. But they help create the desired ambiance of your home to entice buyers to say, "Hey, I can see myself living here!" And, that is the goal of marketing your home for sale.
Why worry about your home's appeal? Because buyers' emotions play a large part in deciding which home to buy. They want to fall in love with the "feel" of the home, in addition to its location, floor plan and price. They want to feel comfortable in the house. They want to see that the home has been well cared-for and loved. They do not want to worry about how long it will take them to clean that grime off of the shower stall, or the effort and money needed to re-landscape the entire grounds.
Can your home's appeal add to its value. Certainly. The more appeal your home possesses, the faster it will attract a buyer and the more buyers it may attract. More buyers can equal multiple offers and a higher final sales price. Finding the right buyer faster means closing on the sale of your home sooner; this results in lower holding costs to you, as you discontinue paying off that mortgage, those taxes, the insurance and other costs much sooner. And the ability to move on and have your home sell quickly without months and months of showings? Priceless.
Don't forget to take a look around your home to determine ways you can add to its appeal. Ask your friends and family to take a discriminating look, too. And, of course, make sure your REALTOR does the same and provides you with a check-list of things to do.
Comments(18)