If you are thinking about putting your home for sale in spring, do not wait until the flowers have started to bloom to prepare your home for the market! Here are some simple things you can do that can boost your home’s value and help prepare your home for a spring sale quickly.
Highlight Your Natural Light
If you have shades or curtains in your home, make sure that you raise the shades and open your curtains. Anything that seems old or outdated (including decorative valances) should be removed. These valances not only block a sizeable chunk of natural light out of your room, but they can fade very quickly from the sun as well as collect dust.
Subtract What Is Outdated
While most renovations will not recoup all of your costs dollar for dollar, you can improve your space greatly by removing anything that screams like it came from a different decade. This can be wallpaper borders, popcorn ceilings, etc. Renovating a whole kitchen can be very expensive but switching out the hardware is not! You can paint your cabinets over a weekend and put in new handles and you will be amazed at how quickly you can uplift your space on a dime.
Think Small
In general, our aspirations in life are big. We want to be the best that we can be at work, in our relationships, and in our outlook on life. However, when it comes to renovations, especially if it is to prepare your home for sale, you want those aspirations to be small. Instead of completely replacing your bathroom tub, re-glaze it and it will look as good as new. Make sure all your lightbulbs are working to show your home is in its best light. If you are keen to take on a bigger renovation, make sure it is to the exterior of the home as this is the first impression potential buyers will have of your home and will direct how they feel about the interior. For example, a garage door replacement can yield a 97% return on investment, as will the installation of a stone veneer outside your home!
Put It In Neutral
You may love colour, but when it comes to selling your home, you want to attract the largest demographic to increase the possibility of having multiple chances of strong offers. This means you will have to pare back some of the personality in the home. By painting your home in whites and neutrals (another renovation that will not break your bank account) you create a blank slate for potential homebuyers to envision the space how they would want to decorate it.
If It Is Broken, Fix It!
While your loose doorknob or your creaky window might not bother you, I can guarantee you it will bother a potential homebuyer. Homebuyers are looking for homes in the best possible condition (unless they are looking to flip), therefore, the sight of one item that is broken will lead them to wonder how many other broken things exist in the home. Fix as much as you can that you can see because after the home inspection there are bound to be even more issues that will need to be addressed and minimizing that list as much as possible will only help you.
It can be hard to detach yourself from the emotions and memories you built up around your current home. Instead, try to remember that the whole process of selling this home is the first step you will take to begin building new memories in your new home and I would love to help you start your new journey! To contact me about further tips or new listings I have available, check out my website here.
