Are You Wasting Money Preparing Your Home for Sale?

Preparing your home for sale can be just as important as pricing it right. As a home seller, you will only get one opportunity to make a first impression with prospective home buyers and Realtors. However, do you know what changes will help you obtain top dollar for your home and what changes could be a complete waste of money?  

There are countless articles and even TV shows that give home staging and renovation tips for home sellers, but not all of these tips are going to help your home sale. So let’s take a look at what changes should and shouldn’t make before listing their home for sale.

So What Tips are Must Do’s, Maybes, and No Ways?

Below are the most common home staging and renovation tips and how they might impact your home sale.

New Paint

In most cases, a seller can never go wrong with a fresh coat of neutral paint. However, if your current paint color is neutral and the walls are in good condition it might be more cost-effective to touch up areas that need addressing. Don’t have any touch-up paint? Most home improvement stores are now able to color match your current color.

In addition to the walls take a close look at all of the baseboards and doors. These items tend to get dirty and worn out faster than the walls. So if they’re no longer clean and bright give them a fresh coat of paint.

Fresh Landscaping

A buyer’s first impression of your home isn’t when they walk through the front door, it’s when they drive up. So it’s imperative your home has great curb appeal, which usually starts with landscaping. You’ll want to make sure your grass is always trimmed, weeds are always pulled, and if you use mulch make sure that it’s fresh. Spending a few hundred dollars on flowers, shrubs, and mulch will always be a great investment.

Adding Stone Countertops

Not all homes need stone countertops, like granite or quartz, to get top dollar. It all depends on your price point and a buyer’s expectations. In the upper price points, stone countertops are the norm, so if you have formica you’ll want to upgrade.

However, if your current countertops are comparable to your competition or you’re in the lower price point it probably won’t be cost-effective to replace them. Stone countertops can easily cost thousands of dollars and in most cases won’t make sense to install them. While it may help with the overall appeal of your home it may not add any monetary value.

New Appliances

Brand-new appliances can be a big selling point for a lot of buyers, but it doesn’t necessarily equate to more money in your pocket. If your appliances are on the older side (10+ years) or mismatched replacing one or all may be something to consider.

Appliances on the newer side that are matching are an expectation for most buyers. So it may be beneficial to replace outdated appliances even if they probably won’t add any return on your investment. Many big box stores have complete appliance packages at affordable prices, which could be well worth the investment.

If you're getting ready to list your home for sale odds are you're in the process of preparing it. However, are you wasting money doing so? #homeselling #realestate Click to Tweet

Declutter & Organize

Space sells! Decluttering and organizing your home doesn’t cost a dime unless you hire a professional, and it will always pay off. Some sellers may only need to do minor things, like clear-off countertops while others might need to pare down furnishings and purge closets and cabinets. 

Homebuyers will look in closets and cabinets, so it’s important to organize those too! Take it a step further and organize your clothes by color. Organized closets will always look bigger than closets that have clothes that are crammed into the closet and falling off the hanger. The same goes for shoes, instead of having a pile of shoes on your closet floor put them on a shoe rack or shelf. If they don’t fit and aren’t worn regularly pack them away.

New Carpeting

The general consensus for replacing carpeting is usually a must-do, but in my experience, new carpeting may not always pay off. This is where getting an expert opinion from your listing agent will come into play, they should be able to tell you if it’s a wise investment or if you’d be wasting money. 

So many people, including buyers, are getting away from carpeting and installing affordable hard surface flooring like LVP, engineered wood, or even tile. In some cases, carpeting can cost more than other flooring that’s more appealing and desirable to buyers.

Home Maintenance

Make sure everything is checked off your “to-do list.” Ceiling stain from a repaired roof leak? Paint it. Broken faucet? Replace it. Does your tub need new caulking? Caulk it. Ripped screen? Fix it. These fixes will never be seen as wasting money, if anything not doing them could be costing you money.

While these repairs may seem little and insignificant they can become overwhelming to home buyers. Therefore, they may eliminate a home because in their eyes it needs too much work.

Home Addition

In most cases, this will be a no way. However, if the cost of the addition will significantly increase a home’s value it may be something to consider. It’s all about the numbers!

If an addition costs $50,000 and will increase the value of a home by more than $100,000 it may be worth going through the process. With that being said adding an addition can take months maybe even a year and can be extremely stressful. So in most cases, this will probably remain a no-way and fall under the what not to fix when selling a house category.

Remodeling Kitchen and Bathrooms

Just like home additions, this one is usually going to be a no-way. A kitchen or bathroom renovation can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars, and odds are the return won’t be worth the hassle or expense.

However, there are some easy inexpensive upgrades that can be done to these spaces like installing new faucets, new lighting, new cabinet handles, or replacing a vanity.  While these little changes aren’t a full renovation they can make a huge impact.

Inexpensive Ways to Prepare Your Home for Sale

There are a lot of little things that help sell a house and here are a few free things every seller can do:

• Declutter and organize the entire home
• Deep clean, both inside and out
• Depersonalize
• Neutralize odors
• Home staging and remove furnishings if necessary
• Deweed flowerbeds, driveways, and sidewalks

Final Thoughts

Prior to spending a dime and wasting money preparing your home for sale I highly recommend contacting a top Realtor in your area. They will be able to advise you on what changes need to be made before listing. I can’t count how many times I’ve met with sellers who planned on spending more than $10,000 preparing their home when in reality they only needed to spend $1,000.

If you’re looking to sell your Wellington home I welcome the opportunity to meet with you and give you my expert opinion on what changes could benefit your home sale. I have prevented countless sellers from wasting money preparing their homes for sale and was still able to obtain top dollar for it.

Please consider spreading the word and sharing; Are you Wasting Money Preparing your Home for Sale?

If you're getting ready to list your home for sale odds are you're in the process of preparing it. However, are you wasting money doing so? #homeselling #realestate Click to Tweet

Popular Home Selling Questions

How much do deep cleaning services cost? The cost of deep cleaning services will vary and depend on the size of the home, the level of cleaning required, and the cleaning company. Some cleaning companies will charge a flat rate while others will charge an hourly rate. Deep cleaning services usually start around $200 to $400, but once again will depend on the size and level of cleaning needed. 

How much does landscaping clean-up cost? The cost of landscaping clean-up can vary depending on the size of the property, the extent of the work needed, and the overall complexity of the landscaping needed. Generally, basic landscaping clean-up services such as clearing debris, removing dead plants, trimming shrubs, and raking leaves can range from $100 to $500 or more. For more extensive clean-up tasks that involve tree removal, extensive pruning, or major yard overhaul, the cost can increase significantly, potentially ranging from $500 to several thousand dollars.