If you’re about to put your home on the market, you’re looking for easy wins when it comes to its curb appeal and appearance. The real estate market is pretty strong right now, but if you’re in an area where home values are a bit more challenging, you need to stand out from the competition to get a good price without too many days on the market.
Start Out On the Ground Floor
Sorry, the old shag carpet has got to go. Install tile in the kitchen and bathroom areas and low-maintenance composite or synthetic wood systems throughout the rest of the house. This will appeal to allergy sufferers and make your house look clean. It will also make it easy to actually keep it clean while showing the house. Area rugs provide visual contrast and appeal, and those looking at your house know they’re easily replaced to suit their taste.
Don’t Forget the Garage
All too many garages are just bare concrete (or more accurately, concrete that has motor oil stains on it), but epoxy floor coating makes a garage space pop. Especially, if your buyer is a car person, an epoxy floor makes them visualize their favorite car in that space. More about staging your home later, but for many people, their garage is where clutter and unwanted items go to die. It all needs to go.
Paint Makes It Pop
There are very few things that make a house memorable like freshly painted walls. Choose tasteful, relatively neutral colors, but don’t be afraid to provide a little bit of contrast. It gives a house character and breaks up the spaces into living areas without that monolithic feel of wall-to-wall neutral beige. You want it to look like a home, not a hospital.
Help Them Visualize Themselves at Home
Staging a home is perhaps the biggest challenge of all, especially when you’re still living in the home while you’re trying to show it. Renting a climate-controlled storage facility may pay for itself many times over in enhanced home value. Store unused items, family heirlooms, pictures, furniture and equipment off-site. If you’re using a real estate agent, they may have some ideas and even some furniture you can borrow to convey an elegant look to prospects.
For most people, their home is their biggest asset, and getting a good price for it when it’s sold is worth everything you can put into it. Floors, paint and cleanup efforts are inexpensive and provide a solid return on investment.
