Everyone has different priorities when listing their home for sale. If you are ready to downsize or relocate to a new state, your priority may be achieving a quick sale rather than a high offer. In a situation like this, we advise our clients to focus on light improvements that enhance the look of the house as it is now. Because timing is a factor, it’s important to price the home appropriately and then stage it well.

When the goal is to upsize and generate a higher sale price, we suggest bigger improvements that require a bit of investment. Check out our DIY projects to boost your home’s value in a previous blog post. But when it comes to maximizing the value of the home at the lowest cost, we steer our clients towards these 3 key tricks.

1. De-clutter

Have you ever visited someone’s home and heard them say, “Don’t mind the clutter; we live here.” It’s true – our homes are for living, and living creates stuff. Some stuff is sentimental and on display, some is on its way somewhere else, and some is just the piles that seem to grow over time. Except for the strictest minimalists among us, most of our homes have clutter. But when it’s time to sell, that clutter needs to go. While no one minds seeing your clutter in your home, they don’t want to see your clutter in their home. Make the selling process, and your own moving process, easier by getting rid of or packing most of your home’s small and non-functional items. This includes staging standards like pulling the leaf and extra chairs from your dining room tables, removing freestanding shelves or cabinets, and any furniture that crowds a room.

2. Neutralize Décor and Paint

Choosing paint colors is a personal matter of style and taste. Unfortunately, style and taste are extremely individualized, and colors can impact a potential buyer’s entire opinion of the home. When a young family with 2 sons walks through a house with a pink princess bedroom, they have trouble visualizing that room for their own children. Or worse, they see a project they don’t have time or energy to complete. The bold red accent wall in your dining room popped with your heirloom china pattern, but the country chic couple won’t be able to imagine their distressed wood table and hutch against it. Neutral paint throughout the house offers a blank canvas for each potential buyer to envision their own décor and colors. Speaking of décor, make that as neutral as possible also. Swap out colorful throw pillows with muted tones, remove any distracting furniture or artwork, and simplify the overall look. 

3. Freshen up Flooring

Your floors do the hard work in your house, and it probably shows. Vinyl or laminate plank flooring can be an inexpensive way to freshen up your floors in a DIY project. If you’re not up for it, a local handyman service may complete this job affordably. Consider replacing colored carpets with neutral colors. Like paint, colorful carpets can prevent a buyer from seeing themselves in that room. If your carpets are already neutral, or new flooring is simply not within budget, get the floors professionally cleaned throughout the house. Professional carpet and floor cleaners can buff out scuffs and scratches, ensure stains are removed, and give the house an overall fresh feeling for potential buyers.

Work With an Agent Who Understands Your Needs

Your real estate agent should understand your priorities before they help you list your home. A knowledgeable agent knows what steps you’ll need to take to achieve your home selling goals, and guides you through the process of making improvements or repairs before staging the home for buyers. 

At 1SlickHome.com and The Geoff Slick Team , we represent both buyers and sellers with exceptional, personalized service. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you achieve your real estate goals. We serve the western Philadelphia suburbs, including Souderton Area School District, North Penn School District, Quakertown School District, Pennridge School District, Central Bucks School District, and more! 

Keller Williams Real Estate is a real estate franchise company. Each Keller Williams Real Estate office is independently owned and operated. Keller Williams Real Estate is an Equal Opportunity Employer and supports the Fair Housing Act.

The data relating to real estate for sale on this website appears in part through the TREND Internet Data Exchange (IDX) program, a voluntary cooperative exchange of property listing data between licensed real estate brokerage firms in which this broker participates, and is provided by TReND through a licensing agreement. The information provided by this website is for the personal, non-commercial use of consumers and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Some properties which appear for sale on this website may no longer be available because they are under contract, have sold or are no longer being offered for sale.

Updated: 1st October, 2018 1:16 PM.

Listing information provided courtesy of the Bright MLS. IDX information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use, and it may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. The data is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS.
Updated: 21st October, 2019 2:34 PM.