See Our National Coverage Map
If you are preparing to put your home on the market, it might not make sense to complete any big home improvement projects. Once you have met with your realtor and are convinced there aren’t any major repairs to make, consider doing some easy refurbishing yourself to make your home more appealing to buyers. These updates shouldn’t take long to accomplish, and they won’t break the bank.
The First Impression: Start with the first thing potential buyers will see online, driving by, or coming to a showing – your home’s curb appeal. Check all your landscaping and keep your grass cut. Clear your yard of dead plants, weeds, sticks, and leaves. Trim the trees and the bushes and consider adding a few bags of dark mulch around them. If your home has a front porch, adding a couple of pots of seasonal flowers on the front porch can make a huge difference. Update and possibly remove any accessories such as a doormat, wreath, or rug.
The Front Door: A little sanding, a fresh coat or two of paint, clean or paint the trim, and put on a new doorknob. A knocker will add some charm. Fix or replace any exterior lighting that needs some help.
Bathrooms and Kitchen: Outdated lighting and plumbing fixtures can drag down the entire vibe of a home. But by replacing the old fixtures with either timeless or trendy ones, you breathe fresh life into the space. If your cabinets have old and tired hardware, replace them for a quick, easy, and cheap facelift. Regrout and replace chipped tiles. This may take some extra elbow grease but will make your tile look new and give it a fresh look that buyers love.
Fresh Paint: Brighten up your home with a new coat of paint in a color palette that will appeal to today’s buyers. Doing this will help in covering up stains, marks, scratches, and any odors. Choose a warm neutral color to appeal to the widest range of buyers. Talk to your realtor for advice on what is currently popular. Painting can be done on a weekend and absolutely won’t break the bank.
Flooring: A huge selling point for potential homebuyers. Remember that odors linger especially in rugs and carpets and worn, dirty, or badly colored carpeting can turn a buyer off in seconds. If you have good hardwood floors, consider ripping out the carpet and exposing the wood. If that isn’t an option, your realtor should have recommendations on who or what to use to bring life into your carpeting – replacing or deep cleaning it.
Window Treatment: Get rid of any town window shades, dreary curtains, bent mini-blinds, and dusty old drapery. Remove and replace with simple white mini-blinds or wood blinds. Easy fix and refresh that can be done in a day.
The Bottom Line: Adding any or all of these updates can easily and cheaply get your home ready to sell with confidence. If you want to sell your home as quickly as possible you’ve got to put your best foot forward for potential buyers, especially those who come in to take a physical walk-through of the property.