How to Stage Your Home for Sale | RE/MAX Results | 04.15.2022
If you’ve been seriously thinking about putting your house on the market, chances are you’ve already heard a thing or two about the concept of “Staging,” or the art (and, often, science) of maximizing your home’s appeal to prospective buyers. It’s a practice that, with proper planning, can make a big difference once you’re ready for offers to start coming in. While many home sellers opt to hire a Staging Professional to assist them in this process, there are a lot of things that you can do yourself – and with the guidance of your real estate agent – to ensure your home has the strongest buyer appeal possible. Regardless of which route you choose, here’s a brief overview of projects to consider when staging your home. Strengthen Your Curb Appeal While it may seem obvious, you can never underestimate the value of taking a few simple steps to beautify your property. After all, these exterior features will be the very first impression any prospective buyer gets of your home. There’s good reason to make sure you start off that relationship on the right foot, so be sure to take care of the little things – mowing your lawn regularly (or reseeding or sodding as needed), planting blooming flowers, and freshening up your greenery, and keeping your front windows clean. It’s also usually a good idea to power-wash your siding and walkways and consider repainting or staining your porch or other wooden exterior elements. Anything you can do to ensure that the outside of your home is inviting and welcoming should be considered a high priority when staging. A Home So Clean It Sparkles Hard floors should shine. Windows should gleam. Counters and surfaces should be spotless. Even the grout should be so clean it looks new – well, you get the idea. Giving your entire home a deep clean is hands-down the cheapest (if not necessarily the easiest) way to help your home make the best impression possible, and maximize its perceived value to homebuyers. De-cluttering: Appealing to the Buyer’s Imagination While it may feel impersonal to you to store away your knick-knacks and mementos, the truth is, those are just the things that will make it difficult for a potential buyer to imagine their new lives in what could quite possibly become their new house. And remember: clear surfaces, floors, cabinets and closets equal more space in the eyes of prospective buyers. Neat, Warm, and Welcoming All of the above certainly doesn’t mean that walking into your house should feel cold or like the home is unlived in. It may sound like a strange balance to strike, but the trick here is to create a somewhat “generic” sense of comfortable – after all, since you won’t know the personal tastes of your potential buyers, you’ll need your home to cast the widest possible net of appeal. Vases of fresh-cut flowers, a basket of produce on the counter, and a bowl of lemons next to the sink. Essentially, you’ll be trying to hit just the right combination of neat, warm, and welcoming. If you’d like more in-depth guidance on how to maximize your home’s appeal to prospective buyers, the agents at RE/MAX Results are here for you. Feel free to reach out anytime, and we’ll be happy to help. About the Author RE/MAX Results
10 Tips for Selling Your Home | RE/MAX Results | 2.3.2022
When homebuyers are looking to purchase a new home, they see the obvious flaws as a huge overhead that they don’t want to take on, despite the fact that many of the flaws are easily remedied. They would rather find a house that already has these issues fixed. So the question becomes, what can you do to make your home more appealing to buyers? Here is a list of the top 10 tips for selling your home to make it more appealing to buyers. Starting to host open houses? Landscaping. Whether you hire a landscaper, have family or friends help out, or do it yourself, the front yard is important. Curb appeal is the first impression the buyers see when they arrive at your home. Keeping gutters and the front of your home clean is important. Put away kids’ toys; remove debris, dead vegetation, and animal waste. Mulch is a great low-cost, high-impact addition to your yard, and don’t forget to mow the lawn! Tidy up! A clean home is a happy home! Nothing will sell your house faster than making it look spotless. Sometimes, this isn’t the easiest of options, so if you can’t deep clean before every showing, at least be sure to remove clutter. When you think you’ve removed enough clutter, remove more. Do not put it back after a showing either. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Depersonalize. Buyers want to see themselves living in your house, they don’t want to see someone else’s home. Pretend you are moving out right now; take all the things that make the property your “home”, (Pictures, religious décor, memorabilia, etc.) and put it in storage. This will help buyers be able to see themselves living there. Make minor repairs. Patch holes in the walls, fix leaky faucets, fix doors that don’t close properly, and fix drawers that jam. If a buyer sees all the things that have been pushed aside, they start to wonder what they can’t see that hasn’t been maintained. A $50 repair to the seller is a $500 expense in the eyes of the buyer. Repair, replace, or repaint entries. Inspect the entry to your home with the eye of a critical stranger. A sagging screen will give buyers the impression of neglect. A fresh coat of paint on the front door can change an entire opinion about a home. Eliminate the smells! Smells are often a deal killer. Pets, smoke, and other unpleasant smell-creating things in your home can cause issues with a potential buyer. Deep clean with bleach; re-caulk cracks between sinks, tubs, toilets, counters, and scrub floors to get rid of the mold and mildew smell. Replace damaged flooring. If you choose to have a professional lay vinyl flooring for you, it could cost $400 or more. However, it is relatively easy to lay vinyl flooring yourself. The new floor will pay for itself in the appeal it creates for the buyer. Carpeting is also a low-cost way to boost the charm of your home. To get a decent quality carpet would cost roughly $2.50/square foot. Of course, this number can go up or down depending on what carpet you choose and where you buy it. Redo your walls. Painting the walls would be the best option when it comes to selling your home. Not all buyers hate wallpaper…they hate YOUR wallpaper. This is because it is your personal choice, not theirs. Painting with a neutral color such as tan or off-white can allow for them to use imagination. Fix your bathroom. The national average recouped cost is more than 100% for bathrooms. Think new floors and updated faucets or lighting fixtures. These can really pay off in the end. Remodel your kitchen. Many buyers make decisions based entirely on this area, especially since the kitchen has become more of a gathering place in people’s homes. Outdated kitchens are a turnoff to most buyers. Floors, countertops, appliances, and lighting need to be updated and/or repaired. Buyers base a lot of their decision on the kitchen. If your house is in good shape but the kitchen is not, it could be a deal-breaker. About the Author RE/MAX Result
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