If you want to sell your home faster and for more money, but you’re on a tight budget, don’t worry. There are a few relatively cheap things that can increase your home’s value by 10-15%!
Photo by Blue Bird
Outdoor area improvements that will make a great first impression
Outdoor area
Cost range: $100 to $10,000
Potential return: 1 to 3%
The first impression of a home doesn’t start with your hallway or living room. It starts with your walkway and outdoor area. So make sure to mow the lawn, trim overgrown shrubs, put out blooming flowers, and apply a fresh layer of mulch to garden beds.
Besides that, you want to make people coming to your home imagine their life there. It might be worth considering adding additional functionality to the outdoor area. For example, installing a pavilion can paint the image of enjoyment while reading a book in the shade during summer, having a barbecue with friends, or simply having a cup of coffee outside.
outside.
Power cleaning
Cost range: $0.2 to $0.4 per square foot
Potential return: 1 to 3%
You probably haven’t noticed how your walkway, or any kind of solid exterior surface, changed over the years. They probably became dull, dusty, greyish, covered in lichens.
But when you power-wash (or pressure wash) them, oh my, you’ll immediately notice the massive change! Whether that’s concrete, bricks, limestone, siding, or something else, power-washing will lead them to their full potential.
Superficial indoor changes with a huge impact
When people come to your house to check it out (or when they look at its pictures online), they’ll notice only what’s on the surface. So make the surface shine!
Declutter, depersonalize, and clean the house
Costs range: from $0 to $2,500
Potential price increase: 3% to 5%
You want to move out of your home, so this is a win-win situation. By decluttering, you’ll get rid of the stuff you don’t need anyway, and you’ll make your current home more appealing. Make ‘donate’, ‘keep’, and ‘maybe’ piles and decide quickly what to do with the ‘maybe’s’.
One way to help potential buyers imagine themselves in the space is to depersonalize it – remove items that are personal, like family photos.
And finally, deep clean the house. Wipe, dust, vacuum, get rid of bad-smelling odor. Pay special attention to the kitchen, bathroom, and living room because these three rooms are usually the selling points of any house. The research has shown that deep cleaning can increase a home’s value by up to $5,386!
Focus on the kitchen and bathroom
Cost range: from $500 to $3,000
Potential price increase: 3% to 10%
Simple things like regrouting the tiles, changing the leaking faucets, or changing outdated knobs on the cabinets can go a long way and give these two essential places a new, fresh look.
If your tiles, cupboards, and cabinets are in good condition, but look old-fashioned, you don’t have to invest thousands to replace them. There are special paints and primers for every type of surface that can completely change the way your home looks. Choose neutral and earthy colors, because realtors say those colors sell better.
Floors give warmth to the space
Cost range: from $1,000 to $2,600
Potential price increase: 3% to 6%
If your hardwood floors look scratched and blunt, you don’t have to change them completely. Hardwood flooring refinishments will bring you back 147% of your investment, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
New paint makes a lot of difference
Cost range: $100 to $1,000
Potential return: 1 to 3%
The cost of painting the rooms in your home differs whether you’ll do it yourself, or you’ll hire a professional. Nevertheless, a new paint job can give your home a fresh and clean look.
You don’t even need to repaint your entire home, but make sure to repaint any room with some quite specific color, and make it more neutral.
We recommend this because most people can’t see the potential of a room when it has an expressive color, like purple, red, lime green, etc.
Conclusion
There are many low-cost or no-cost things you can do to make your home more appealing to potential buyers.
Definitely start with decluttering and cleaning. Only when there aren’t many things in your home, you can really see and focus on other things, like fixing old tiles or faucets.
If it seems overwhelming, you can make a list of priorities and start from the top, focusing on one item on the list at a time. Trust us, you’ll notice the benefits of all this hard work when you start negotiating your home’s price!