Winter is in full swing here in Maine, and the snow storms keep coming! To take our minds off all the shoveling I wanted to look ahead to the coming months, to warmer days and a more hospitable housing market.
For those considering selling, whether you’re looking to cash in on your equity and upscale, or looking to downsize and pocket some equity, the coming months are sure to be a good time to bring your home to market.
But before you list your home, there are several things you can do to start preparing your home for going on the market. Curb appeal is essential to maximizing your equity, and making your home ready for potential buyers can make a substantial difference in the final sale price.
Many clients interested in selling perhaps are getting too caught up in the buzz on the housing market to fully appreciate how much a homeowner can quickly add value to their home by cleaning, touching up and repairing minor flaws around their property.
For this month I’m going to touch on all the indoor tasks that will help make your home more appealing. By taking these heavy chores off the to-do list, come warmer weather, you’ll have time to work on touching up the yard.
Starting with the more obvious and low hanging fruit: a good, early task in the process is decluttering. Early and good, yes. Necessary, yes. Exciting, not so much… But you shouldn’t skip or procrastinate on this one.
Getting rid of junk and clearing out clutter in your house will maximize the space in your home, making your house appear larger and giving potential buyers a better idea of how they might use those areas.
When decluttering is complete, a deep clean is the next logical step. Getting rid of dust, cobwebs and stains on the walls and floors will help accentuate your rooms and make cleaning and preparing for open houses and showings easier when your home hits the market.
For the more ambitious, painting rooms around your house is a great way to pull in buyers and hold their attention. A fresh coat of paint in bedrooms and living areas help add color and vibrancy to the home.
Another good but more involved way to prepare for selling your home is making small repairs around the house. Patching holes in the drywall, smoothing out chipped door frames, tightening loose hinges and greasing creaky ones, these are just a few of many examples of minor touch ups that can help.
My suggestion is to go around your house, into each room, with a discerning eye. Start a list of any damages, cracks or anything that sticks out to you needing fixing. Once you have a list, prioritize and start working away at it without rushing or feeling pressured.
If there are things on the list that require a professional, consider whether or not it’s worth the expense. In my experience I’ve found that hiring professionals before a home goes to market tends to be a wise investment. Homeowners end up making much more in equity gained than they spent on the repairs.
If this seems like detail overkill for you, consider that many prospective buyers actually come to your home with skepticism, looking for reasons to walk out unsatisfied or scoff at the listing price. Small unrepaired items around the house can make a potential homebuyer curious about what might be wrong that they can’t see.
Plugging away at these smaller items gives homebuyers confidence that the property is well-maintained, giving them little reason to suspect that the listing price is anything but fair and accurate.
Building confidence in homebuyers is an often underlooked and underappreciated aspect in real estate, and many homeowners should understand that potential buyers walk into your home with a much different eye than you.
By taking care of small details, opening up space in your home and keeping your rooms clean, you’re proving to buyers your home’s true worth, maximizing the equity you’ve earned in being a homeowner.
There are a lot of things you can do as you prepare to list your home. Starting a list of tasks and prioritizing them helps keep things from becoming overwhelming. The experience of selling your home, reminiscing on the past and looking forward to the future, should be exciting even if stressful, but should never become overwhelming.
If you have any questions about what you should do to make your home market ready, or have any questions about real estate, shoot me a message today.
