Hey Chicago, whether your home has been on the market or you are planning to sell this fall or winter season, here's some suggestions to help you sell your home before your neighbor does and for more money:
Curb Appeal: The weather is great right now so go out and rack your lawn. Sprinkle it with water first thing in the morning before you head out to work. Cut the lawn, one last time. Add some mums to your front yard "freshly trimmed" landscaping - not the small ones either. If your landscaping doesn't have any room, then put two at the front of your staircase or even maybe one at the bottom of the stairs and the other at the biggest section of your landing. It's a way of inviting the "eye" to look at your home.
Deck Area: Leave two lounge chairs out with a foot rest and again one or two colorful big $20 pot of mums on the deck. Lay a quality blanket over the arm rest of one of the chairs. What this does is gives the consumers the idea how great the back yard and/or deck area is for relaxing even during the fall.
Color: The fall is about color and bring it on! If your walls are somewhat dated, now is the time to add some zip and zing to those walls. I personally love Benjamin Moore Paint but also have found that Lowe's Paint is also extremely good quality and wears well. If you room needs some warmth, then add spice tones that naturally season rooms with warmth. If you have patterned accents either it be furniture or accessories, mix color with the pattern. It's a great way to pull the effect of "I just got to have this house". The fall colors I am seeing right now and find extremely appeal to the eye are Benjamin More Atrium White, Winter's Lake Blue and Davenport. Combine that with bright white trim and watch it "pop".
Chose at least three colors that work together and use them in different combinations. Play with lighter and darker versions of those colors to make it work for your house. Remember, you are not painting walls for your taste but to enhance the characters and quality, desireability of your house. That's the purpose.
Create a common thread using a single color on all trim to pull the whole project together. However, I have used a combination of using stained wood trim on walls that where wood will pull in the warmth as seen in this construction photo of a project that I designed at 5110 North Claremont. The staircase wall was all oak wood, doors were solid oak but yet I had an elegant french living room concept and so I installed painted 7 inch base moulding with 3/4" baseshoe and added painted crown moulding that pulled together the strength of the staircase wall and it's 6' long 4" stained moulding but yet created the elegance with the painted detailed base moulding in the living room and dining room areas.
This is just before the house was finished so the floors were not cleaned here.
NOW, if you have wood trim around your doors and base molding, let me show you the warmth that draws you into the kitchen and family room area.
Again, construction still going on. DID YOU KNOW .... that the kitchen is considered to be the strength and heartbeat of the home? Well it is so concentrate on your kitchen area first and then expand from there. Oh, by the way ..... that isn't a home that you are seeing in the back yard - it's the garage.
Why in blue blazes would I design a garage that looked like a house? Because there will be condominiums behind this property in the next five years and I wanted to (a) create some privacy for the new owner and (b) people tend too look at things that are "cute", "charming", "breathtaking" and will overlook a condominium building because of having a cute house garage in the backyard.
My disclaimer: I designed that garage for those reasons but also for the anquish that my father has had to go through the years because my mother never threw anything away and our basement was always full of "stuff". So, this garage has room for my Dad's things in the attic area.
I'm not telling you to tear down your garage and build a new one. When I sell properties I give the buyer's options of designs for garages and have them there and ask the family which one they like, on the count of three. Well, fingers are pointing at all different designs on my sheet of paper and my point is this, price the home for the cost of a new garage and let the new owner decide what he wants. You could put in a standard garage and that may kill the whole sale. The cost factor difference: "ZERO"!
Focus on adding new splashes of color into your home but keep it neutral. 17% of your selling price comes from your curb appeal. Start there and then work from the kitchen and then around to the other rooms. Organize your closets - Don't have them overstuffed with kids toys, shoes that you don't use any more or seasonal clothing.
Bathrooms - Get some expensive egyptian towels and have them displayed only for showings and open houses. Let the family use the regular towels.
Clear the clutter. Remove everything off the kitchen countertops - even that new mixer that you just bought! The more free you are of clutter, the more the consumer's mindset can be to free to put their personal touches in your home when they are visiting it.
Carpeting over Hardwood Floors: If you carpeting is worn out, dated or dirty and you have hardwood floors underneath - pull it out! The consumers are pushing for more of an environmentally, energy efficient home that is healthy. Carpeting is great for two reasons: (a) It retains the heat in the home and (b) it adds soundproofing.
What it boils down to, it doesn't matter who went on the market first, it's who gets sold first.
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