In today’s market sellers are doing everything they can to spruce up their homes for resale. It is probably that houses can be listed on the market for months before an offer is made. Sellers who are in a hurry to sell their homes will need to do some sprucing up and offer a competitive price to get their home sold fast. My neighbors gave their house a facelift by installing replacement windows, adding a fresh coat of paint throughout the house, packing a bunch of the kids clutter up and moving it to storage and having the carpets and grout cleaned. It was an inexpensive way to make their older home look attractive in the tough selling market.
They had a budget of sixty five hundred dollars which they hoped to recoup with the sale price to get the house ready for sale. They knew the most expensive but most worthwhile investment would be replacement windows. To cut costs as much as possible in this area they had a friend that is familiar with construction come in and measure and help install the windows. This saved them a great deal of money and allowed them to upgrade to a well known brand of window. This was in hopes to draw sellers in. New windows are always a bonus with sellers. Since the house was older and the roof had been redone only a few years before this was an item that would be easy to recoup in increased value to the home.
Replacement windows help with the curb appeal of a home that is on the market but that alone is not bringing buyers back in to make an offer. The inside of the house was lived in. To increase the “show” value of their home they took two days to go through belongings and separated the items into piles; throw out, store and donate. This was easier because they knew whatever was to be kept would also need to be stored. Only the essentials would be left inside the home for it to be showed. Many nonessential items were donated including children’s toys and clothes that were too small. They also eliminated many items that had collected over the years such as completed school projects and knick-knack souvenirs. This process was virtually free so it did not have any effect on the actual budget.
The paint for the house was relatively inexpensive. It did take a good week to complete the whole house but really impacted the feel of their home. They painted neutral going with a beige color and were minimalists when it came to hanging pictures and art back up. This definitely affected the aesthetic value of the home. Now that they walls were fresh the flooring needed something also. The budget did not allow for new flooring so clean carpet and grout would have to do. The neighbors finally called in the professionals for this.
Their home was on the market for exactly 21 days before they had an offer. Not bad in this housing economy. It was a low ball offer so they countered and the counter offer was rejected. They were confident with the updates and the price they had the house listed at so they were not overly concerned. Good thing because a week later and offer came in at their asking price and they closed in record time.
Replacement windows, sweat equity, perseverance and a reasonable asking price will help sell your home even in this tough. These are all things to think about before you put your home on the market.