Here’s some good news, homeowners: selling your home quickly and for a handsome profit doesn’t have to be an intimidating process.
In fact, with some careful planning and a little help from the professionals, preparing your house for sale and convincing prospective buyers to buy it for top dollar can be a breeze.
Here are some of the preparations to make:
Clean, declutter, and depersonalize
At least two weeks before tackling other details of your home-selling endeavor, make sure to thoroughly clean and declutter your house from top to bottom. This means ridding your home of any defective items and donating furniture, decor, and appliances that are still in good condition to charity shops such as Goodwill. Setting up a garage sale can be another option.
If you can’t bear to part with some of your belongings, consider renting a storage unit for your items while you’re still in the process of selling your home.
Depersonalizing your home – that is, removing personal mementos and photographs from plain sight – minimizes distractions a visiting potential buyer may encounter. You essentially turn your home into a blank slate, making it much easier for potential buyers to imagine living in your home as if it already were their own.
Make necessary repairs and upgrades
These repairs and upgrades need not be costly. In fact, there are some home upgrades that you can do by yourself to save on money like adding extra seats to your outdoor living spaces or changing the kitchen hardware (e.g., shelf handles, doorknobs). Not only do these affordable home improvement ideas boost your chances of selling your home but they also increase your home’s value.
Give your home a fresh coat of paint
Never underestimate the power of a fresh coat of paint. Not only will painting your walls in a neutral color help to make your home look clean and fresh but it can also make your space look much bigger than it really is.
Don’t forget to touch up and repaint your doors, baseboards, door frames, and window sills, as well. You don’t want the more finicky buyers to find unpainted spots.
Improve your house’s curb appeal
Your home’s exterior is just as important as its interiors. It’s the first thing potential buyers see when looking at your home either in person or virtually.
To improve your home’s curb appeal, you can paint your front door, fix cracks on your walkway, clean up your lawn, and add some shrubs or flowering plants to your yard.
Pro-tip: Make sure prospective buyers can clearly see your house number — you don’t want them knocking on the wrong door now, do you?
Get professional real estate advice
It can be very tempting to keep your home improvement projects a strictly DIY affair. However, it’s still best to get advice from professionals in the field.
Realtors can give you valuable insights on market trends, point you to the best contractors in your area, and help you determine the best improvements to make on your home before putting it back on the market.
Planning on selling your home? Give us – Elissa Biagi and Nicholas Pasquale of Biagi Pasquale Real Estate – a call at 905.932.4510 or 905.357.1700. You can also email us at nicholas(at)revelrealty(dotted)ca so we can start your journey toward home-selling success.