Are you trying to sell your home, but aren’t having any luck? Perhaps you’ve thought about remodeling a few rooms to make the place more appealing, but you don’t have the money to do it. Let me tell you, there is a lot you can do to sell your home without spending thousands of dollars!
Revamp Your Landscape
The first impression most definitely counts, and the first thing that your prospective buyers are going to see is the front of your house. Step outside and evaluate it yourself. Try to look at it as if you were seeing it for the first time.
First of all, if there are kids toys laying around, for Pete’s sake, pick them up! Next, take a look at your landscape. Most houses have a landscape that is overpowering the front of their house and it makes the property look super tiny. Get out your trimmers and cut it down to a more reasonable level.
On the other end of the spectrum, maybe you have a very tall house with very little variations in depth, which makes it look a bit awkward. This is where some tall bushes in the front and on the edge of the house could help bring it down to size.
Finally, pay close attention to the front door step. This is where their agent will be fiddling with keys or trying to open a lock box, so make sure the area is spotlessly clean and tidy (don’t forget about the spider webs!).
For Goodness Sake, Paint Over Those Murals
Murals are fun when you live in a home because they show off your interests and passions, but when you’re selling your house, your tastes will most likely differ from the buyers. Many people will say that they can overlook things like this when they view a house, but if you have an entire wall painted with river streams and the prospects absolutely hate the outdoors, the value of your house just went down. Trust me. Paint over those murals.
Get Rid of Your Family Photos
You want the buyers to picture themselves living in your home. If you have pictures of yourself and your family in there, it will be much more difficult for them to do.
Get Rid of Those Fake Plants
I don’t know who came up with the idea of 6 foot bushes in the corners of your living room, but they really are an eyesore. They make the room feel small and they are dust collectors! Get them out of the house. Your buyers don’t want them.
Create a Spacious Atmosphere
Everybody likes the idea of a spacious house. If you have big bulky furniture that takes up most of the walking area, it really needs to go. You may have to rent some furniture for a couple of weeks while your house is being viewed, but when it sells, the extra effort will be entirely worth it.
Get rid of those little bookshelves and storage pieces as well. They are cluttering up your house and will turn buyers off. Ideally, you should have 70% more empty space than used-up space in each room (my won rule-of-thumb). Create the illusion that the room is almost too big for the furniture. It’s much better for the buyers to think the room is too big than too small.
Brighten Up the Room With Some Fresh Paint
If you have a few dark-colored rooms in your house, go out and buy some light-colored, neutral paint (tans often work best). Contrast this with white baseboards and your rooms will brighten right up! It’s a great way to improve the look of a room with very little cost to you.
Fix the Broken Stuff
No one really wants to move into a house with a long to-do list. Fix those little annoyances and your property will be sold much more quickly!
Sell, Sell, Sell!
I hope these tips helped you out and enable you to sell your house very soon. Are there any additional points that you would make to improve the sale of a property? I’m sure the other readers would love your comments!
Derek has written 11 articles on this blog. This article was written by Derek from Life And My Finances. In addition to getting out of debt, Derek also writes about cutting expenses and investing for the future. To receive daily updates, make sure to follow his Twitter posts via @LAMFinances and subscribe to his website at http://lifeandmyfinances.com.
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These tips are great! When I bought my house, it was in desperate need of remodeling. However, things like landscaping, a new front door, and good staging helped me see the potential instead of focusing on all the negatives. It took a ton of work, but I am very pleased with the way the house looks now. When house shopping, my mantra is “Ugly can be fixed” but certain things (family photos, crowded rooms, etc.) make it hard to even see the ugly and imagine fixing it!
We had the same mantra going into buying our first house, but it really is tough to look past a bunch of jumk laying all over the place! The house sells much better when it is prepped and cleaned.
Don’t forget curb appeal. People make decisions based on first impressions that occur within seconds. This is true of houses, food, and people. Unless the house is a fixer upper or other attractively priced situation that requires you to look beyond the present, you will decide in seconds if you like it or not.
Yep, that was mentioned in the post: Not only the plants and shrubs outside, but also that front doorstep! Make sure it’s clean and appealing!
Great tips! I love the “paint over the murals” idea. Nothing is worse than looking at a house with murals, kitchy wallpaper, or neon-colored walls! It may look great, but might turn off buyers who don’t have kids or your same obsession with, say, dolphins.
Yep! Murals typically do not help the sale, only hurt it. Get rid of them!
I agree with these tips and used these and others when selling a prior residence. The one that some people have trouble with is removing family photos. I think that’s a good idea though, no matter how wonderful we know our families are:)
Very true! Those family photos can be more of a hinderance than a help. It’s best to keep them off the wall.
Don’t forget to make the house smell good prior to hosting would be buyers – bake cookies in the microwave or pop some frozen bread in the oven….
Mmmmm, yes! Baking those cookies helps! Any type of alluring aroma will do. Great addition to my tips Marie!
A few simple tips make so much difference. I am convinced that the reason we sold our home quickly last spring was it’s immaculate condition and staging.
They sure do! Keeping your house clean and without random holes in the walls can make a big difference!
I think one tip that gets overlooked a lot (just based on house I’ve been in that are for sale) is to CLEAN! I can’t tell how many places are cluttered and filthy. Taking out 1/3 of your stuff and doing a deep clean can work wonders.
We’ve been looking at houses recently and we saw one where there was laundry spread out in the living room and empty cups on the end tables!! It was pretty hard to envision this one…
These are great tips. I will have to pass this post along to my sister who is getting ready to sell and move closer to our mom.
Glad you can find a good use for these tips! Good luck to your sister on selling her house!
Very good tips, Derek. I agree: no fake plants, silk flowers, or dried flowers. Clear out the knick-knacks and tschotschkes. Be sure to clean every crevice of every appliance that is staying. Bathrooms and kitchens should be nearly spotless. Not easy, but it can be done.
Yep yep! The hard part is living in your house and trying to make it look like a hotel at the same time. If you do it right though, you won’t have to live like this for long because your house will be sold!
It all comes down to clutter a lot of the time. If you can’t imagine your belongings there, it doesn’t really work and you can’t understand how big the space really is.
You’ve got it! Sounds like you’ll sell your house fast if you ever need to!
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