Selling a home for a home owner is an exciting and sometimes stressful scenario. The first and most important thing you want to do in preparing your house for market is to make sure it has good curb appeal. Curb appeal is simply the first impression a prospective buyer gets when driving by the house.
It has been said that up to 80% of the decision to buy a house is made before even entering the home.
No matter how great your house looks inside with the best floor plan, the greatest design decor and updated finishings....if your house is unimaginative or overgrown and unsightly outside, a lot of potential drive by buyers will instantly judge the book by its cover and pass on to the next one.
- So start on the outside of the house by all means. A lot of creating curb appeal is common sense. Keep the lawn mowed and watered, trim the shrubs, make sure there isn’t any peeling paint and keep weeds out of the flower beds.
- If the time of year allows it is best to put some color in the landscaping. Plant some flowers and put down fresh bark in and around the shrubbery next to the house.
- Before listing your home take an honest look at the outside of your house from the street and if it looks better than ever before since you've owned it, it's time to move your effort to the inside.
- Keep the yard clean, cut and manicured at all times while listed on market.
Inside your house you want to make things look as open and bright as possible, decluttering is your most important goal here.
- Keep all the blinds and curtains open during the day to show off the house. Move some of your extra furniture into the basement, a storage space or a friend’s house.
- Keep the inside of your house smelling good. Any senses you can stimulate when someone enters your house will help to create emotional attachment to the home. Don’t overdo the aroma therapy, but make the house smell pleasant and look comfortable, clean and livable. People want the house to feel like home.
- Keep everything as clean as you can. You have no idea what will instantly turn off a person that comes in your house. You want your house to look, feel and smell it’s best.
Another option to increase the value of your house and one of the most cost effective updates is re-painting the interior and exterior of the house. Make sure to use light, neutrally bright colors inside the home. You may like orange, red and other bright colors, but you want to appeal to the largest group of people. Sticking with neutral colors will be your best bet. Everyone has their favorite way to decorate, but you have no clue what the preferences of the person buying your house will be. If you stick with off-white and beige colors indoors the rooms will look bigger, and brighter. It will also make it easier to paint the house whatever color the new owners want when they move in. It takes fewer coats of paint to cover up light colors than it does for darker colors.
Next you may want to consider replacing the light fixtures. If you have outdated brass fixtures you can get inexpensive updated fixtures at home improvement stores that can easily add some modern finishing touches. Try shopping for contractor packs of lighting fixtures for more added value.
While you are shopping, you can pick up a couple of ceiling fans or a Chandelier for the dining room that will add some instant sophistication to a room and may help to the property more quickly. Also go ahead and spend a few dollars on new outdoor fixtures, an updated mailbox and house numbers can make the house look more appealing.
Pay special attention to the bathrooms and kitchen. If you are planning on doing any remodeling at all before selling your home, the kitchen and the bathrooms are the best places to put your money. A new coat of paint, updated fixtures, a few spa like accessories and a new toilet in baths will instantly update and add to the overall value of the house. These are updates that are moderately easy for most homeowners to do themselves or reasonably pay a handyman to do and they will more than double the return on your investment in most cases.
Remember that people make emotional decisions. As much as we like to think we all make logical decisions, the truth is people are highly emotional decision makers, especially consumers/buyers.
Buyers have to visualize themselves living in the house. Be as open minded and as flexible as possible for potential buyers, your lack of cooperation and preparedness will translate as lack of motivation to motivated potential buyers.
Contact me HERE for a free seller's consultation anytime, I'm here to help!
Erin Groover, Realtor®, SFR
770-597-7369
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