Saturday, October 25, 2008

10 Easy To Do Ways to Increase Your Home Value

Home sellers can raise their property value in a down market by making a few changes and adding a few things prior to placing their home on the market.

1. Paint the exterior – Painting the exterior of your home can give your home a facelift, and can be done for a lot less than you may think. Choose a neutral color that blends in with neighboring homes. Make sure eaves, gutters and drains may also need painting or updating.

2. Complete all needed repairs – Your Realtor should be able to refer you to an Ashi Certified Home Inspector who will be able to provide a list of items you need to repair prior to placing your home on the market. We also suggest a Radon test.

3. Purchase a home warranty – A Realtor can provide a Home Warranty Company. They will increase the new buyer’s peace of mind, knowing that most major components of your house are covered should they fail. Normal cost ranges from $350.00 to $450.00, dependent on the size of your house.

4. Stage the home to sell – Hire a Realtor who can help you stage your home to sell. By staging the property it allows the potential buyer to visualize the property as their own. Removing things like clutter, personal photographs, monogram towels, etc.

5. Increase front yard curb appeal – People are more likely to tour a home when the front yard looks inviting. Adding color, landscape lighting and replacing dead grass areas with sod will make your home more inviting and increase your visitors.

6. Easy inexpensive kitchen makeover – Most decision makers base their decision to buy a house on the kitchen. Although you can’t make it larger you can upgrade a bit. New stainless steel appliances, cabinet fronts, hardware, flooring even replacing dated countertops will increase the ohs and ahs when potential buyers are touring your house.

7. Update your bathroom - Your master bath is very important in determing a home’s value... By turning the bath into a spa, it will become a welcome relaxing space. Upgrade the faucets, fixtures, lighting, cabinetry, and mirrors. Adding some plants, candles and luxiourious towels will also increase the buyer’s interest.

8. Replace the carpets - Instead of cleaning old, used carpet, replace it with fresh, neutral-toned carpet with an upgraded pad for an extra luxurious feel, or install pergo flooring to really increase the WOW factor.
9. Upgrade doors and hardware – Replace old doors with modern 6 panel doors. If replacing the doors is out of the question at least change out the old hardware with an updated look of pewter, anything other than brass.

10. Clean - Your house has to look and smell fresh. Clean all the appliances, including the oven, make sure all fixtures gleam. Place a basket of potpourri in the bedroom and light a few candles. Vacuum and dust everything. A clean house projects a well taken care of home.
By following these 10 easy to do ideas will result in more visitors viewing your house which will greatly increase your possibility of selling the house. Contact The H Team today for your free Home Staging report.

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