The school year is over and the housing market is heating up. If you’re thinking about selling your home and are wondering if you will get the best ROI (Return On Investment) on home improvements, we have some tips, tricks, and a checklist to help you best budget your time and efforts in staging and repairing your home to sell for top dollar.
Knowing what things buyers are looking for and what things are not desirable will help you get the best ROI on your investment.
It doesn’t do any good to just list your home – it needs to sell for the best price and best return on your investment.
We are frequently asked which investments in updates and staging really help to sell a home. When you are thinking about putting your home on the market, there are some basic, easy, and inexpensive ways to get your home ready to sell and other areas where you may want to do major renovations but are not sure if you’ll get your money back.
When getting your home ready for buyers to view, staging and cleanliness are very important. If your home looks cluttered and dirty, that will turn off prospective buyers and possibly bring in lower bids.
We can schedule a time to walk through your home and help you organize furniture, children’s areas, dining areas, area rugs, and décor to best showcase your home.
This is an excellent time to either store or sell furnishings and other items that you don’t want to move to a new home. If you don’t want to sell furniture, rent a storage facility for the time your home is on the market. Buyers want to see a clean space and be able to imagine their belongs and décor in the home.
Make sure your home is always clean and free of clutter. Keep children’s toys, personal items, and homework organized and out of sight. Make sure bathrooms and the kitchen are cleaned regularly.
Painting your home in coordinating and complementary neutral colors is a fairly inexpensive way to freshen the look and feel of your home as well as give prospective buyers a backdrop for their vision and their personalities. Too many colors, bold colors, and uncoordinated colors can turn off prospective buyers. A neutral color like gray in a bathroom with glass shower screens may suite more buyers than if you use a lively color like pink or orange. Many buyers can’t see past simple cosmetic issues and bid accordingly.
Flooring and the right tiling are other important items as buyers are looking for hard surface flooring without wall to wall carpeting. The floors can be hardwood, tile, or high-quality laminate with ideally only two to three different flooring types throughout the home. For instance, kitchens probably won’t have hardwood floors, so a vinyl tile or regular tile may be present. This tile should carry through other parts of the home, such as bathrooms, laundry room, and possibly a den or play area. A lot of different tile or wood patterns throughout the home or changes from room to room are not desirable. Depending upon cost and the age of the home, it may be worth getting a bid on new flooring, unless your home is being sold as a fixer-upper.
Buyers are focused on kitchens and bathrooms. Remodeling your kitchens and bathrooms is an expensive process that can cost upwards of $50,000 to $75,000 and may only return 60% of the value. Home buyers are looking for stone and aggregate countertops, as opposed to Corian or Formica. New, custom wood cabinets are also on the buyers’ check list.
If your home is older and your neighborhood comps don’t support that large a remodel, it’s best to make sure the kitchen and baths are clean, with no clutter. Remodels are time-consuming, expensive, and since these areas are where home buyers are most interested in creating their own environment reflecting their style, it may be best to price your home accordingly for remodel, especially if you want the home to sell quickly.
Please contact us for a more complete check list of items to get the best ROI on money spent staging your home for sale.
