8 Tips for Selling a Home
People who are selling their homes face a dilemma of whether or not to improve their houses before listing or listing them as-is. If you have resided in your house for many years without doing many remodels, you may find that the home you have is outdated. Cabinet styles have changed. Floor styles are different. Maybe the wallpaper you have dates the house to a particular decade. However, it can be a daunting task financially to do a complete overhaul of the property. If you’re looking to improve your home before putting it on the market, we have eight suggestions that will delight buyers without breaking the bank.
1. Quality photos
High-end real estate requires the use of quality, high definition photos that showcase all the great aspects of the property you are trying to sell. People are used to dealing with high quality so you will want to avoid using blurry, unclear or poor quality photos. If you are unable to or have little knowledge of photography, consider enlisting the help of a professional photographer who deals specifically in real estate.
2. Paint the Interior and Exterior
Putting a brand new coat of paint on those old walls is the best investment you can make. A few cans of paint and necessary painting supplies will run you well under $1,000. Pick modern colors and styles that buyers want. Include accent walls. Look at home decor websites and magazines for color combinations that sell. Safe bets are neutral shades (like grays) as those will appeal to the most buyers. A fresh coat of paint re-energizes the house and makes it feel updated without needing any significant remodeling work.
3. Sell at the right time
Choose the right time to sell your home. Some homes look best in the summer while others look great when the autumn is in full swing. Homes in places like Aspen, New York, and Nebraska look best in the fall when leaves turn brilliant red, fiery orange and warm brown. Washington and Utah look great in winter while Arizona, Texas, and South Carolina are great any time of year.
4. Replace Light Fixtures
If you’ve lived in the house for many years, you might not notice how out of date those old light fixtures are. Also, dated lighting might be dirty and have cracks or other structural issues. Buyers are naturally drawn to light. We observe where the light is coming from when we walk into a room and as such we tend to see what type of lighting it is. Modernizing your lighting can be done for as little as a few hundred dollars. New light sources combined with a fresh coat of paint can make a room feel vibrant and alive.
5. Hire a professional stager
A professional stager helps to create a pleasant and welcoming ambiance in order to help potential clients feel more comfortable on a property that they want to purchase. They do this by arranging furniture in appealing vignettes, using nice fabrics, flowers, lamps, throws and other items to create a comfortable space. They help to create rooms that clients can picture themselves living in which ultimately influences them to make the decision to purchase.
6. Showcase the home’s special features
Avoid marketing the house as a generic property, but focus instead on its special features. Does the home have anything onsite than you can highlight? Are there any famous places nearby in the area? Are there fruit trees, recent additions, nice views or quiet nights? Point these features out to clients you are showing the home to and include them in your marketing literature and advertisements to make your property stand out from other similar options.
7. Freshen Your Curb Appeal
Curb appeal will make or break your sale. If a buyer doesn’t like the look of the house from the outside, it’s nearly impossible to sell them on the inside. First impressions matter. One of the top ways to ensure your home sells is to make it look attractive. Freshen up the landscaping, make sure the lawn looks immaculate, and remove anything that looks ugly. If you can, paint the front door as well, upgrade your mailbox and clean up your porch or deck. These little exterior improvements make your home look newer and more attractive. You want buyers to pull up to your home and feel like it is a great place to live.
8. For luxury homes use a luxury home realtor
It is a somewhat commonly held belief that selling a luxury home is more difficult than selling a standard home. However, this does not necessarily need to be the case. Selling a luxury house can be made much easier by conducting research on the best luxury home realtors in your area and recruiting them to help you sell your luxury property. Bear in mind that this type of realtor tends to charge a lot more than one dealing with regular properties. However, this should not put you off as you will be gaining access to networks of high-end clients who are both willing and able to purchase your property which means that you can make a sale quicker.
In Closing..
Following these 8 steps including painting, upgrading light fixtures, and freshening your curb appeal will help you get top dollar for your house. Some of these steps can usually be done yourself and will often cost from a few hundred to under a thousand dollars. However, taking the time to make these small upgrades will result in a home that feels more vibrant, fresh, and inviting. This will result in more offers with higher dollar values in a shorter amount of time. All good things!
Selling a home doesn’t have to be unnecessarily challenging or difficult. Following the advice laid out in this article, your home will be snatched up by an excited buyer in no time.