Maximize Your Home Value

Make more money on the sale of your home with these fix-ups and improvements. This is not about making major renovations to your home, rather pick and choose which improvements will give your home the most amount of ‘curb appeal’.

First impressions are critical.
Remember, buyers are looking at a lot of homes and you want yours to stick out in their minds.

Exterior
Stand across the street and look at your home with a critical eye. What do you see? What needs to be cleaned, painted or repaired?

Driveway & sidewalks: Power wash any stains, keep the driveway free of any cars and leave the garage door closed.

Garage door: Does it need a coat of paint? Does it go up and down easily? Lube the door opener, springs and hardware. If you have the old wooden flip up kind, consider replacing it with a new roll up door. If you do replace the garage door make sure you paint it to match your home’s color.

Entry: What is the overall feel you get standing at your front door? Give the front door a coat of paint. Replace the door if you must. Replace the door knob and hardware. Does the trim around the door look faded and dull? Paint it if it does. How does the porch light look. Change the bulb. Get a new porch light if it is weathered. Do you have a screen door? Replace the screen. If you have one of the security screen doors and it is rusted replace it, clean it at a minimum. Would adding some potted plants make the entry more pleasant? Make sure the doorbell works, replace the hardware if you need to.

Front yard: Fertilize the lawn and any plants. Trim all shrubs and weed all planting beds. Re-seed any bare spots in the lawn. Prune trees. Replace any plants that are not growing and blooming as they should be. Consider adding more plants to your planting beds to fill in any bare spots. Keep the lawn cut and watered. Make sure your yard is neat and trimmed with nothing overgrown.

Backyard: Give the backyard the same treatment at the front yard. Trim, prune, weed and fertilize. Power wash the patio. Add more plants if you need to. Make the back yard a pleasant place to sit in the evenings.

Roof: Clean and repair gutters. Make sure the roof is free of debris.

Walk around the house and remove cobwebs in the eves. Repair, patch and paint your homes exterior as needed. Yes, painting the exterior is a big job, but painting the exterior can make your home really shine.

Windows: Clean, get the dirt, grime and bugs out of the tracks and off of the windows. Make sure they open smoothly. Replace the screens if necessary.

Interior
Painting is the best investment you can make. If the interior of your home has not been painted in the last couple of years do it. If walls are marked and scuffed paint ’em. Use a neutral color.

‘Empty’ your house: Pack up what is not essential. Don’t leave a lot of family pictures on the walls. The goal is to make the interior as bright and clutter free as possible.

Kitchen: Scrub it down, top to bottom, make the kitchen shine. Keep the counters, sink, and table clear of everything. Clean all lights and replace bulbs. Clean out and organize cabinets and the pantry. Having your kitchen shine is a top priority to make a good impression on a buyer.

Bathrooms: Clean it thoroughly. Repair any leaks. Replace the light fixtures if needed. Upgrade the bathroom hardware, towel racks etc. Get new towels and bath mats. Replace the medicine cabinet if it is rusted. You want the bathrooms to sparkle.

Closets: Pack what you do not need. Organize the closets – they will be inspected. Consider adding closet organizers to make the closets look bigger and better organized

Flooring: No stains allowed. At a minimum have the carpet professionally cleaned. If the carpet shows wear consider having new carpet installed. Make sure tile floors are chip free and the grout is clean and stain free.

Garage: Pack and clean it. Make an area to put any boxes you have packed from inside the house. Keep it neat and clean.

The interior has to be clean, bright and airy. Pack anything you don’t need. Don’t hide stuff in a closet. Open the shades and let the light in. Add ceiling fans to the bedrooms and family room.

At a minimum clean all lights. Replace any that need to be replaced. Strategically replace light and plug switch covers with the stained wooden or ceramic ones to for a nice look. Make sure the windows are all clean and open easily. Fix any leaks or squeaks. Replace any hardware that looks bad or does not work properly.

Once you have your home clean and shiny and it goes on the market you must keep it that way. Selling a home is hard work and you have to keep on top of the home condition. It will pay off in the end.

If you would like to talk to me about selling your home
call me directly at 760.476.9560 or email me via the contact tab.