September 29th, 2011 6:35 PM by Taydus Taydus, AHWD, CNE, CRS, GRI
The recommendations below may cost you a little more on the front end however, if it moves your home more quickly by making you competitive, you will reap the benefits of less carrying costs via a quicker sale :)
If you are thinking about making some home improvements, but do not have the time or desire to do so yourself, please check out my Provider Directory for some quality General Contractors, Architects, Handymen, and Landscape professionals!
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It’s a highly competitive market for home sellers right now.More homes to compete with means that the impression your homes makes - fromthe curb, and on the inside - matter now more than ever. You canincrease your chances of selling faster - and at today’s top dollar - byinvesting in a select few home improvement projects that have been shown tomake a big impact on buyers.Bad news alert: it might cost you a little time, effort and cash. The good news, though, is that the best projects for quickly increasing your home’s resale value tend to be cosmetic and fairly simple and inexpensive to do. Here are five projectswith big-time return on investment for home sellers-to-be, in terms of theirpower to attract buyers, and to attract dollars from those buyers.1. Painting: Adding a fresh coat of paint to ceilings and walls is a tried and true way to increase your home’s appeal to buyers. Go for white or neutral tones that help lightenyour rooms. (Now is not the time to show off your fascination with fuschia andlime green.)Buyers will have an easier time envisioning how they will infuse their ownpersonalities into your home if they’re looking at a relatively blank slate. Painting lightens and brightens rooms, instantly removes scuffs and dings and gives every room a fresh, polished feel. Fresh exterior paint - even if your time or cash budget limits your efforts to accents like eaves, shutters, doors and trims - is also a quick, inexpensive way to polishthe look of your home from the curb.2. Landscaping: Everything you’ve heard about curb appeal is true. First impressionsmatter - especially if your house is one of eight or nine a buyer has seen inone day. Buyers will be more excited to look at the inside your home if theoutside looks clean, charming and inviting. Mow the lawn, trim the hedges, pullthe weeds and plant some flowers, bushes or shrubs for the biggest impact - andbe diligent about keeping your landscaping very well-manicured throughout thetime your home is on the market. Be sure to keep it low-key, relatively low maintenance and neutral, though. This is not the time to indulge your personal fantasies of living in an exotic paradise, unless thatmatches the existing look and feel of your home, nor is it the time to installa time-intensive English garden that buyers will love, but not want to take on.Think clean, simple and elegant for the biggest boost in value.3. Cleaning and de-cluttering: Start by removing all your family photos from thewalls and all sorts of clutter from the tops of tables, desks, dressers andcounters. Buyers want to be able to envision their lives in thehouse, not yours. Personal items - and the visual clutter they create - havebeen shown time and time again to block buyers’ ability to create this vision. Also, remember that buyers are coming to see the house and evaluate its space, not to bear witness to all the fabulous furniture that means so much to you (no matter how amazing your personal taste). Remove furniture that takes up too much space and fills up rooms. Get rid of clutter such as clothes, boxes, piles of mail and otheritems. And then clean - and keep cleaning obsessively, the entire time your place is on the market. Kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms should look unlived in when they areshown. And don't forget to clean less obvious places like windows, walls,doors and and floors, to dust off shelves and furniture, and to polishappliances. 4. Plumbing repairs and water stain/damage repair: Paying a plumber to make a few stops throughout your home can be well worth the investment. Leaky faucet in themaster bathroom? Get it fixed. Does the space under your kitchen sink look likea science experiment? Leaks and water stains definitely provoke disgust andexasperation on the part of the buyers you want and need to impress. Andthey can be pretty cost effective to fix - ask your agent for a referral, ifyou need one.5. Staging: Staging your home can make a dramatic difference in the price for whichyour home sells. Good staging is equal parts:
(a) removing your personal belongings and replacing it with more artwork,decor and cleaner-looking furniture,
(b) and tweaking the home’s paint, wall coverings and even landscaping to show theplace in its very best light.
When done well, staging can convert your home from just another listing on a buyer’s list to the setting for a fresh, new start to the fresh, new life of their dreams.Professional stagers, in particular, have special skills and materials theyuse, from convincing you to get rid of a bunch of things you value (but read:junk to a buyer), to items like mirrors, plants, art work, lamps, pillowsand even furniture that tells a visual story of the life buyers can fantasizeabout living in your home.Talk to your agent about staging - some agents have the skill to do this on their own, while others might have a professional stager they frequently work with.In some cases, you might want to take on even larger projects. Before you go that route, talk with a local real estate agent; they are well-positioned to know what sort of updates and features will make the most impact on local buyers. Not all major,non-cosmetic upgrades to your home will create a significant difference in theprice it commands, so take advantage of your agent’s expertise as you makedecisions about which property preparation investments to make (and which toforego).