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10 Ways To Improve the Value of Your House Before Selling

Every home owner who wants to sell has thought the simple question of, “What do I have to do, to get more money from this place?” Over the years there have been various tips and tricks to help home owners get more bang for their buck when trying to sell their old home. The extra money that sellers receive with a few changes by sprucing up the house, afford them the chance to look at a larger range of opportunities – which is what counts in the long run. Because there have been so many tips and tricks throughout the years as we mentioned, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to simplify the best ones that offer the most buck for a little elbow grease. Below are the top ten ways to improve the value of your house before selling.

10.) Paint the Interior and Exterior

One of the first things new homeowners do when they purchase a house is personalise it. Everyone wants to feel like their new livings space, is their own space. However, contrary to popular belief, not everyone is going to be thrilled at the idea of bold room colours like neon green or the auburn red in another. While it might speak to the creative personality and personalised feel for the homeowner, it effectively limits the potential target market for the prospective buyer quite substantially.

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Take the time to paint both the interior and exterior of the house to a more neutral color, so that an individual’s personal color palette doesn’t get in the way of whether they like or dislike the house. Some of the most popular neutral colors that you’ll see in houses that sell quickly are tones of beige. Lighter colors not only open the space in rooms, to create a larger feel, but also allow the prospective buyer to imagine how they would occupy the living space.

9.) Replace Old Handles/Door Knobs With Modern Alternatives

Take the time to go to your local store and purchase some more modern handles and door knobs for a quick fix to one of the most overlooked opportunities to earn some more money. Door knobs and handles within the house are arguably the most used fixture. Since this is the case, wear and tear is quite evident. Some of the metallic finish or paint on the handles could appear to be chipping away. A prospective buyer might grab a handle, notice the decrepit finish, and worry about what else might be overlooked throughout the house.

8.) Stain Your Kitchen Cabinetry

A staple on many home improvement television shows is about replacing and installing new kitchen cabinetry. The shows often highlight just how “inexpensive” and “little work” it takes to make such a change. However, when you get down to the sweat equity involved, along with the financial cost to do so, it’s more hassle than it’s worth, and frankly doesn’t pay off as much as they lead you to believe. Instead, take the time to sand your current kitchen cabinetry, and stain the cabinets with a fresh clean coat that flows with the neutral paint you’ve decided to paint throughout the house, and pairs well with the countertops already installed. During this time, make sure any quick fixes that can be applied like tightening a few screws here and there gets done.

7.) Replace Shower Screens

The two most important interior parts of a house for a prospective buyer are the kitchen and the bathrooms. Potential buyers want to be comfortable in both those areas, and seeing a clean bathroom is part of the important walkthrough that each potential buyer engages in. Shower screens can become dirty over time, with soap stains, cracks, peeling paint, etc. It’s important to keep a consistent look throughout the house, along with quality. Spending the little cash to replace the shower screen to showcase to potential buyers that you care deeply about the house, and that they should as well, will carry the potential selling price that much higher. Not to mention, installing and replacing an existing shower screen is little effort for the growth in the bottom line.

6.) Caulk the Bathroom

Since you’re already going to be replacing the shower screen in the bathroom, you might as well take the time to spruce up the area as well. One of the most overlooked aspects of prepping a house for sale is the little things in the bathroom, like re-caulking the tiles and connection points between the tub to the exterior tile. Little pockets of cracks will eventually form naturally over time, where dust, mildew, or other various things will form. It creates the illusion of cheapness within the bathroom, and you want to portray elegance. Taking the time to re-caulk can add countless value to the image of your bathrooms and project the essence of a “new” or “refinished” bathroom. Both of which helps to drive the cost of the home upwards.

5.) Replace Old Bulbs With Brighter and More Efficient Ones

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As we mentioned earlier, paint can create the illusion that a room is much larger than it really is, so too does lighting. Effective lighting allows individuals to see just how bright and inviting each room has the potential to be. Darkness in a room tends to have an effect that the room is much smaller than it really is, and creates an enclosure feeling. If a room has good lighting, it promotes the imagination of potential buyers. Potential buyers want to have the ability to place the ideal furniture in each room. Some of the furniture they could be imagining already exists in their collection, or they see new plans forming with the effective lighting. The larger the home feels and is perceived to be by perspective buyers, will ultimately help raise the selling price.

4.) Create More Space / Remove Clutter

Everyone at some point has had a little too much of a hoarder habit in some area or another. The problem with having too many things spread throughout the house is that it limits the sizing of the room. We’ve covered earlier how lighting and colour coordination help to increase the perceived size of rooms, and clutter within a room can have the opposite effect. Leaving furniture and belongings in a house is what is referred to as “staging”. Staging is what gives potential buyers ideas for possible furniture placement and how they could be move-in ready. By having a cluttered household, it prohibits that imagination we’ve been talking so much about, which ultimately decreases the likelihood of the buyer feeling comfortable in the household. Taking the time to remove the clutter in the early stages of selling your home will also help you be more prepared when you do sell the house, as you will have less stuff to move in the long run.

3.) Effective Photo Presence

So much of the buying process is now about establishing an online presence. Selling houses is less about putting different pictures in trade magazines or newspapers, and is more about getting to all the proper internet channels to reach the largest audience possible. In order to reach the largest target market possible through online resources, you have to have an effective photo presence. Individuals shop around through various realtor websites and determine from pictures and details alone, whether or not they’d like to take a tour through the house. It is of the utmost importance that professional photos are in all the effective marketing techniques you are going to use as a seller, to encourage potential buyers to be in awe of the house up for sale. Better photos equal more clicks to find out information on your house for sale, which means more people are going to be interested. The more people who are interested, translates to higher demand, which ultimately converts to a higher selling price.

2.) Pay Attention To The Little Details

Go through the house and pay attention to all the little details that weren’t broad enough to cover individual sub-categories. We’re talking about the door that always creaks when you open it, or how the carpet has the one coffee stain from a month ago. As the old phrase goes, the devil is in the details. A little elbow grease goes along way when trying to convert pennies into big money. Prospective buyers take note of all the little things, and they add up to big things that will ultimately benefit you as the seller.

1.) Install a New Asphalt Driveway

We’ve gotten to the most important tip we can offer to household sellers, installing a new asphalt driveway. First impressions are everything when it comes to meeting both people, and selling houses. The exterior of the house is the first thing people see. It’s the thing that catches their attention in the photo presence we encourage you to establish in one of the earlier points. But most importantly, the driveway is one of the largest landscapes in both the pictures, and the house itself. It’s the thing people use every single day. They walk on the driveway, they drive on the driveway, it connects their domain to the civilized world.

As we’ve previously mentioned, people take note of the little things when looking at a house they could potentially buy. A house that has a driveway with cracks, uneven pieces, grass or weeds growing up from the middle, large tar trails where a poor patch job was done, or other miscellaneous “quick fixes” will create the illusion of a cheap house. Not only will it project that the house is cheap, it will raise large questions about whether or not the house itself is as poorly maintained as the driveway, which plays such an important role.

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Installing a new asphalt driveway is the most important aspect of raising the value of your house. The exterior of the house is what everyone in the neighbourhood sees, so potential owners want to take pride in having an outstanding house they can be proud of. They want their neighbours to drive by and be jealous of the well-kept property that they now own. Having a newly installed asphalt driveway will raise the value of the house by thousands of dollars, and it is the single most important tip we can provide you with today.

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Installing a new asphalt driveway is quite complex and needs to be handled by professionals who know what they’re doing. Unlike the rest of our list, it’s not a good idea to put a little sweat equity into it. Leave the installation of a new asphalt driveway to the professionals, who will undoubtedly raise the price of your home, and make you more money. Install a new asphalt driveway today and create the elegant, well-maintained, premium look that is going to send the value of your household upwards. If you’re interested in learning more, or would like a free no obligation quote, please use our contact form, or call Chris on 0425 759 358.

Improve the Value of Your House – Conclusion

We hope the above helps you improve the value of your house without breaking the bank. Remember, not all updates are going to earn you more money than you spend on them. You should focus on making changes that have the most visual impact on the appearance of your house. All the best!

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