Making Your Home Stand Out From The Crowd
One of the questions we often get from home sellers is “how can I make my home more appealing to buyers”. When you decide to sell your home, you are entering a competitive marketplace where there are probably numerous other houses that offer similar features. It is imperative if you want to stand out that you put in the time and effort to make your home appealing.
A good estate agent can do a lot for you in this regard, but ultimately it will be up to you to make the house as welcoming and inviting as possible to all the people that are going to come through the door looking to buy.
Since you are probably not the only person selling a home in your area, chances are you will need to make a few adjustments to your home and they way you use it to stand out.
Here are a few easy ways to make your home more appealing to buyers:
Fix the Little Things
The longer you live in a place, the easier it is to overlook all the little things that need work. Fixing these little bugaboos is one of the smartest things you can do to make your home more appealing to buyers without breaking the bank.
The broken doorknob in the bathroom, the cracked tile in the kitchen, the dead spots in the lawn. You may have been meaning to get to all of them, but you just haven’t. Well, now is the time. The more polish you can put on your home through little repairs, the more appealing it will be. One of the best things you can do is walk around each room in your home looking at all the imperfections. Try to be a home buyer for a moment and think through their eyes. The more things you can scratch off the list the better.
One of the things real estate agents talk about all the time is prepping for the home inspection. Once your home goes under contract the biggest hurdle is clearing the buyers home inspection. This is a place where either numerous sales fall apart or are renegotiated. By taking the time to take care of the little things you could potentially avoid either a sale gone bad or more money coming out of your pocket!
Clean and Keep It That Way
Some people are more adamant about maintaining a clean home. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, when you are trying to sell you need to get serious about cleaning and staying tidy. Dirty homes are not appealing to buyers, and at least some of the other homes you are competing with are certainly going to be clean. Depending on how bad things are, it may be worth the money to hire some professionals for a deep clean. Once the worst is taken care of, make sure you tidy up before you show anyone your house. The article referenced above has an exceptional info-graphic on what to do to get your home ready for the market! When you don’t have a lot of money to spend, deep cleaning is one of the best things you can do to make a home more appealing to buyers.
De-Clutter
Homes have a tendency to fill up over time, especially if you are any kind of collector. But clutter is not a good selling point for a home. Excessive clutter makes a home look dirty and small, neither of which are selling points. If you have a significant amount of things with nowhere to put them, consider getting a storage unit for your stuff until the sale is complete and you have moved into your new home. And the garage, basement and attic are not appropriate places to store clutter. Buyers want space in all areas of the home.
Making your home feel more spacious can do wonders for putting more money in your pocket. Clearing the clutter out of your home can do just that! Here is an excellent guide on how to choose a storage unit. Putting unnecessary possessions in a storage facility can really make your home feel so much different to a buyer who is looking for an open and spacious plan.
Go For Neutral Paint
Painting the walls of a home can really personalise a space, but being over personalized is not what you want when you are trying to sell. You want to appeal to as many buyers as possible, so you need to offer something fairly neutral. If you have brightly colored walls, consider painting them over with a more buyer-friendly color. You can always go wild in the next house you buy. Being neutral doesn’t mean you have to make your home look like a hospital. In fact that is not something you should do! There are some very nice beige and light earth tones that can make a home look really appealing.
Look to Your Lighting and Fixtures
Lighting and fixtures can really change the feel of a home, especially one that is dated with 70s fixtures and dim interior lighting. Buyers today want lots of light, natural and otherwise. They also want the home to look like something they would want to own, not something out of their grandmother’s place. Consider buying updated light fixtures that make rooms more vibrant and more contemporary. And do your best to bring in as much natural light as possible. Sunshine is always appealing to home buyers, and it makes your home look bigger as well.
Avoid Personalising Too Much
Your home is your castle, but when you are trying to sell it, you want it to look like it could be someone else’s castle too. Being too personalised in your home can push potential buyers away, because they find it more difficult to imagine living in the home. Walls full of family photos, murals painted on the walls and your porcelain doll collection are all great when you are only living in a home. But when you are selling, you want to minimise these things to give the buyer a chance to envision living there.
Handling Pet Issues
Pets are amazing companions, but they are not very good salesmen. Buyers may love dogs and cats, or they may want nothing to do with them. As long as they are making a good offer, you want either kind of buyer. So you will need to address pet-related issues before you attempt to sell. Pet stains and odors must be eliminated, the garden must be picked up and re-sodded if the grass has been killed and you should be prepared to remove pets during viewings. You are trying to appeal to as many buyers as you can, and pets can really get in the way of this goal if you are not careful.
Up Your Curb Appeal
Buyers will see the exterior of your home first. You want the first impression to be a good one, which is why you will need to do your best to increase your curb appeal. Removing clutter from the homes exterior, touching up paint, adding plants and improving the landscape – all of these things should be a priority. These are all great improvements to increase a homes value. You want the exterior to look great. Keep in mind that you don’t need to go overboard with the landscaping. Pulling weeds, adding some nice flowers and greenery and laying down a coat of mulch should not be too expensive, as long as you do the work yourself. The exterior of your home should be just as appealing to a buyer as the interior!