Best Home Improvements For Resale
Maybe you’re interested in selling your cherished home after many years or even thinking ahead long term down the road toward that far-away day when you decide to sell. Whatever you plan to sell your house today, tomorrow or a year from now, you may want to look into investing into making said home as attractive to a potential buyer as possible.
The following are a dozen surefire home improvements that will help you maximize your house sale. Making these improvements could mean the difference between merely unloading your home and breaking even or capitalizing on your investment to reap a major profit.
Necessary Maintenance
Before majorly investing into your home’s improvement, make sure the basics are covered: Do your leaky or stuck pipes need plumbing? Does your attic have adequate insulation? How is your furnace? Your fireplace? The septic tank? What about those rusted-over rain gutters outside? Are your walls dirty or scarred and in need of re-plastering or repainting?
Whatever you do, do not overlook the basic repairs.
Update Those Kitchens and Baths
In the best case scenario, kitchens and bathrooms are two of the most intimate, sanitary rooms in a home. So make sure others think so, too.
Ways to maintain those spaces include replacing old and worn faucets, clean out the grout and mildew, remove those rust stains, replace frosted glass with the clear kind, update your doorknobs and cabinets handles and adding a low-flush toilet. All of this can be done relatively cheaply.
Get Rid of Distractions!
If you really want to sell your house, you’ll want to rid it of anything unnecessary that will only leave your potential buyer with a bad impression. Maybe it’s a bunk bed or some funky indoor love seat. For the best fresh take on such superfluous fare, do a walk-through with an impartial friend or your real estate agent and be ready to put aside any personal feelings should you get some constructive criticism on what best to drop or toss.
Improve Your Landscaping
Nothing gives a worse first impression than an unkempt front lawn and backyard. Survey your lawn and yard and yourself: if you were an objective buyer, would you purchase your home after seeing all the out-of-control trees in need of pruning, tangled foliage, rampant weeds, neglected flowers beds, random junk and kiddie playground sets?
Such clutter can instantly turn off potential buyers, not to mention obstruct views, darken your home’s interior lighting and create mold. Less is more when it comes to gardens so create a landscaping budget – say $500 – and do some much-needed clearing.
Make Your Front Door A-Door-able!
Your front door may be the first thing a visitor sees so make sure that this first impression is a good one. You can add an overhang (awning or portico) above the front door that will shelter the homeowner from rain or sunlight. Get rid of any tacky decorations adorning the front door or that ugly doormat and make sure the doorbell works. Also remove any clutter around your front doorway and porch.
Create More Interior Space
Anything that you can do to open up space and bring more room and harmony to your house might make a huge difference in the appearance of your house. Big spaces can not hurt your interior design, so look into widening rooms, knocking out a non-structural wall, creating more closet space and/or removing a kitchen island that is more space-sucking than compartment-providing.
More Light Please!
The lighting inside your home is so crucial to many a buyer, whether it’s the amount of natural light or the distribution of electric light.
Improving your lighting—from installing a mood-making dimmer switch or gallery lighting to knocking out parts of your ceiling to create skylights—will not only enhance your lighting but your the appeal of your house.
Tubular skylights bring in the sunlight and the moonlight to turn visiting your home into more of an experience. High-wattage bulbs make smaller spaces appear larger. Soft lighting brings a real sense of warmth to empty spaces.
Also: fix those broken windows and window panes and maybe even install lights that work by motion detectors.
This Will Floor You!
Flooring can also seem expensive (about $500 to $2,000 range) but it’s also highly recommended.
Patching up damaged floorboards, repairing broken tile and ridding your place of wall-to-wall carpeting are all ideas that could make your house more attractive. Also: make sure that if you have a colorful floor, it’s not tacky or distracting because that floor color may be the only thing a prospective buyer sees before he/she crosses your home off of their potential buys list.
Overhaul Your Wall
If your wall has more than a few chips and dings, you may want to consider re-painting your rooms. In the same way that you would not choose an off-putting floor color, be sure to choose a neutral color when repainting your wall. The less your walls are noticed by a prospective buyer, the better.
Going Green
If your basic improvements are covered, can you spend some greenbacks into greening your home?
Going green may sound trendy and environmentally correct, but it can also be a big long-term money-saver. A green heating or air conditioning system can save you energy and a lot of money in the long run. For example, a solar-powered water heater can save you as much as 80% on heating utility bills. So yeah, it might be seem like a big up-front investment, but the long-term advantages can be plentiful…for you and for your future buyer.
Photos Really Help Tell the Story
Finally, this may seem minor but it’s in fact quite major. Now that your home is in tip-top shape and looking very sellable, you’ll need to convey that in the images that go up on your listing. So make sure to provide your real estate agent with plenty (yet relevant) photos from interior and outdoor space around your house. The more your pics match what a potential buyer sees upon his/her visit, the more likely a match between buyer and house and the less margin for buyer’s disappointment.
Good luck!