Listing your home on the market is not an easy task and requires careful planning and preparation. Before you do that, seek guidance from your real estate agent on home improvement.
Your agent can give you essential information on buyers' expectations, market value, pricing, and other things that can help you list your home properly and sell it for top dollar. There are a few things to do before listing your home, so don't be in a hurry to get your home listed. Read on!
1. Renovate and Clean Your Home
Research shows that renovation or remodeling increases a home value by 75%. Potential buyers will check your home and scrutinize different areas like the kitchen and bathrooms. Repaint your rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, and the rest of the interior to give your home a fresh and clean look.
Clean your cabinets, closets, rugs, carpets, and garage to increase your home value. Hire a professional cleaning service to get the job done smoothly. Choose colors wisely when painting your home. Experts recommend beige, white, or neutral colors like subtle gray and taupe.
Replace light fixtures if they hinder your home's décor and install LED lights to increase your home value by 1-3%. We recommend low-key lighting for rooms, directional lighting for reading nooks, and accent lighting for décor elements like a painting above a metal, to grab the buyers' attention.
Focus on installing fixtures that are readily visible to buyers, including door handles, curtain rods, faucets, and towel bars. Install new hardware on doors and windows of the kitchen and bathrooms to ensure these elements' proper functionality and safety.
2. Focus on the Curb Appeal
According to the University of Alabama, high curb appeal plays an indispensable role in increasing a home value, and homes with curb appeal have a 7% higher likelihood of selling. Curb appeal is a great way to set expectations for potential homebuyers.
About 63% of prospective buyers will check the interior if they find the exterior impressive. If you want to make an impression on buyers, focus on the home exterior, such as the front entry, driveway, yard, and sidewalk. It is important to:
- Paint your front door
- Replace your mailbox
- Add potted plants
- Spray paint on outdoor furniture
- Install solar-powered spotlights in the garden
- Update Porch Fixtures
- Prune shrubs and greenery
- Perform a thorough cleaning
3. Declutter Your Home
The main goal of decluttering is to increase your home's value. Clutter makes your rooms and living space look smaller, and too much furniture, décor, and other items can cramp the space and make it look unappealing for buyers.
We suggest you keep the necessary furniture and remove anything that blocks traffic flow. When buyers visit your home, they can easily be distracted by your personal items and clutter. Buyers won't pay attention to your home if there are more items around.
Remove all possible distractions to draw the buyer's attention to the best-selling features of your home. Remove all your personal items and worn furniture, including family photos, unusual décor, extra clothes, worn or torn fabric, old pillows, blankets, coffee tables, books, boxes, toys, tubs, buckets, duplicate household items, etc.
4. Get a Home Inspection
Before you list your home on the market or online, hire a home inspector. Although buyers will perform the home inspection, the inspector can inform you of issues that you thought were not important. For example, a home inspection can help detect problems like mold, CO2, and radon gas.
If the buyers notice such issues, they won't buy your house or ask you to lower the price. A qualified home inspector can provide you with a detailed report that you can use to make necessary repairs and modifications, such as AC repair, furnace repair, replacing water heaters, working on plumbing, or electrical components, etc.
Once you have made changes according to the home inspection report, you can perform the inspection again to get an updated report. After listing the home, buyers will visit your home, and you can show them the report, ensuring that everything is up to the mark. While all this requires some effort, you will see positive results with a higher return on investment (ROI).
5. Prepare the Paperwork
Last but not least, preparing the paperwork and having all documents on hand will streamline the home-selling process. The more you are prepared, the easier the process will go.
Having said that, you will need documents like a deed, loan information, homeowners association information, property tax statements, title the report, appliance warranties, purchase agreement, and others.
