Selling your home can be a stressful process filled with ups and downs. Inspections, open houses, and offers that fall through all cause you to look at your home in a more critical light. When your home is in the best shape possible, it can make the selling process go more smoothly. Here, we outline five of our top tips to make your home ready to sell.
1. Decorate
Your home is a reflection of you, but when you have others coming to view it as their home, they need to be able to picture themselves in it. Removing personal items like family photos or mementos and sticking to simple decor can help those who view your home picture themselves in the space. Sometimes this can be overwhelming, especially if you’ve lived in the home for many years or have a large family. In this case, you may consider hiring a professional staging company if you’re ready to sell. They will come into your home and decorate neutrally using items you already have or those provided by the company. Many realtors have connections to staging companies and may be able to refer you to someone they trust.
2. Simple Fixes
We all have little things around our home we refer to as quirks or projects we will get to “someday,” such as changing out the toilet seat, repainting the window sill, or fixing a cabinet in the kitchen that doesn’t quite close right. When getting ready to sell your home, these simple fixes will be low cost but high reward. Investing in these quick fixes yourself will improve the overall look of your home, which can, in turn, make your home appear more valuable.
3. Update Your Roof
If you have lived in your home for many years, you may need to repair or replace your roof before you’re ready to sell. A manufacturer-certified roofer is authorized to provide the best warranties on the labor and materials used in your roof repair or replacement. These warranties are often transferable, so the new homeowner will have peace of mind that the work was done properly. That peace of mind is invaluable for the buyer. Contact your roofing company to see if your roof is under warranty, or reach out to a new contractor who provides warranties that you can pass along to the new owner, an added bonus to their purchase of your home.
4. A Fresh Coat of Paint or Siding
This tip applies to both the inside and outside of your home! If your paint looks like it has seen better days or just needs a refresh to make it more appealing to those viewing your home, this is an important step to complete before you are ready to sell your home. Families viewing your home need to be able to picture themselves living in it, so if you have unique colors or patterns painted on the interior of your home, you may want to consider a fresh coat of white, cream, or light gray paint to give your home a blank canvas.
Curb appeal is also a major factor in making sure a home fetches the highest offers. Fixing or replacing the siding on your home can dramatically improve the curb appeal, making your house the best looking on the block! Many siding manufacturers also offer warranties that protect the new buyer’s investment for years to come as well, adding another selling point.
5. Prioritize the Interior AND the Exterior
While you may have focused your preparations on the interior of your home before getting ready to sell, the exterior matters just as much! While we’ve covered that you should make sure that roofing, siding and other parts of the facade of your home are looking their best there is also landscaping. Hiring a professional landscaper is advised, especially if your home sits on a large piece of land or has a backyard. This exterior of your home is one more place for you to show the prospective buyer that yours is the home they should choose, and it’s likely the first thing they will see when they pull up to view your home, so make sure the outside looks just as good as the inside!
Call CRS
The housing market is constantly changing based on a variety of factors, but you can make your home ready to sell no matter the real estate climate by following these tips. If new roofing, siding, or a simple roof repair are on your to-do list to make your home ready to sell, contact CRS! We have been serving Northern New Jersey homeowners since 1977 and know that safety and aesthetics go hand in hand when selling your home.
