Is Your Home Ready For The Market?

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After a long winter, the real estate market is at its’ peak in terms of demand. Buyers are being offered more choices and sellers are grabbing at the listings. Your asking price for your home and how you prepare it are crucial to maximizing your profit. When preparing your house for a quick and profitable sale, consider the following tips to maximize the appeal of your home:

How Much You Should Spend

A house that looks good and is well polished on the surface will appeal to more buyers and sell faster for a higher price than the neglected house next door, even if they are both structurally the same. Buyers want to purchase a home that looks like it has been cared for because what they can’t see has most likely also been maintained, making them more comfortable.

When readying your home for the market, the goal is to spend as little money as possible. Buyers will be attracted to things like a new roof but they probably won’t want to pay you extra for it. Instead of doing timely and costly renovation projects, you need to invest in minor and inexpensive touch-ups that will make all the difference. Simply upgrading the knobs on the cabinets goes a long way.

Exterior Appeal

Before listing your home on the market, take the necessary time and the smallest budget possible to maximize your home’s appeal. The first thing buyers will judge is the attractiveness of the exterior of your home. Here are some ways to boost your home’s curb appeal:

Keep the lawn maintained and looking fresh by cutting and watering regularly
Trim hedges, weed the lawn and prune trees
Add some attractive potted plants near the front entrance
Check the foundation and walls, walkways and patio for cracks
Repaint doors and windows if paint is peeling or faded
Give front door a fresh coat of paint
Clean gutters and chimney
Replace damaged or missing roof shingles or siding
Keep your garage door closed
Store old cars elsewhere

Interior Appeal
The interior of your home is the selling point so you need to pay the utmost attention to making it look good. Two key things to do are to de-clutter and de-personalize your home when preparing it for the market.

Every room needs a thorough cleaning and removing all clutter will make it appear bigger and brighter. De-clutter! If you have crowded rooms rent a storage unit for your furniture and excess stuff. Don’t give potential buyers the impression that the space is too small for them. Sleek and spacious will impress!

When listing your house for sale you have to put it in your head that it is now someone else’s home. You remember that detailed tiling project you did in the kitchen a decade ago, the one with a fruit on every 6th tile? Buyers are not looking for personal touches that make your home meaningful to you. As soon as they see that kind of thing they will immediately take note of renovations that will need to be done before they movie in. If you have bold and brightly coloured walls, you’ll want to repaint them in a neutral. Many buyers can’t see past the colour. They like the idea of moving in and doing nothing, even though they probably will. Your home was personal to you but it isn’t to them. Don’t let your emotions interfere and take your real estate agent’s suggestions. Remember it is not your house and you are trying to get the maximum value out of it. If you take the advice of a professional, the results can exceed your wildest dreams! If your agent knows what he or she is doing, trust them. If they say paint, paint. If they say take down the decor, you do it. If they tell you to fix known issues like getting rid of pet hair or musty odours, you do it. Your ultimate goal is to show off your home to appeal to the most potential buyers. This means making it as impersonal as possible.

Success Stories

Read more here on how these three homeowners prepared their homes for the market and how they got the greatest value for their homes.