When it comes time to sell your home and move, the process will be time-consuming and exhausting. You can always attempt to sell a home as-is, but there are also some low-cost upgrades you can make before listing your home on the real estate market.
Relatively free home upgrades before selling your home
Sometimes, the best upgrades you can do to encourage a quick home sale at a top price don’t cost much at all. In fact, all of the home upgrades listed below only require time, energy, and a good amount of motivation.
Depersonalize
It can be challenging to depersonalize a home you have called your own for so long. We recommend rallying your friends and being open to their advice. Remember that you are staging your home for potential buyers now and no longer towards your sense of style. Start by packing away family photos, trophies, children’s artwork, and unique sets of collectibles.
Declutter
Now is the time to start finally tossing your unwanted stuff, donating gently used items to charity, and selling anything you don’t want to move. Decluttering can make you money that can fund further home upgrades. Be sure to ensure countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms are cleared. Don’t forget about the pantry and closets, as the aim is to showcase plenty of available storage.
Clean, clean, clean
We know that keeping a home completely free of fingerprint smudges and cookie crumbs isn’t easy with kids. However, a clean home tells a potential buyer that you are house-proud and subliminally signals that maintenance is also up to date. Concentrate on the kitchen and bathrooms as beds can always be made up quickly. In addition to mitigating the smell of pets and old soft furnishings, studies have shown that citrus, pine, jasmine, cinnamon, and vanilla can help push a sale.
Inexpensive upgrades before selling your home
Once you have tackled the free upgrades, we would encourage you to consider the following relatively inexpensive updates to your home:
Regrout
You likely don’t pay a lot of attention to the grout in your home, but it is amazing how grout can change the look of a room once redone. It is also a relatively simple job to master on your own if you aren’t replacing tilework.
Retile the kitchen backsplash
The appearance of the kitchen and the bathrooms is integral to a house sale and the associated offering price. Retiling the kitchen backsplash typically doesn’t cost very much due to its small size, and a professional tiler can complete the job swiftly.
Clean carpets
Bad smells, stains, and dirt are all incredibly off-putting. If you don’t have a carpet cleaner, then rent right away or hire a professional team to clean the carpets in the entire house.
Paint
Painting certain rooms in your home before selling is a big selling point. Not only can you neutralize and depersonalize the color palette, but you can also take down most of your artwork and patch holes simultaneously. If your home has dozens of photos on the walls in a particular room, then we would recommend starting there.
Remember that most buyers will insist on a home inspection before completing a house sale. Consider being one step ahead and investing in a home inspection of your own. You can then ensure renovations and upgrades are complete before they could potentially lose you the sale.
