What can you do to add the most value to your house and get the best return on your investment before you put it on the market to sell? today we are looking at Home improvements in Santa Cruz best Seller ROI. We’re going to cover the top seven items that you can do to your property that will help to increase the value the most before you put it on the market. Now this isn’t going to be like HGTV where you have a $50,000 budget and you’re going to completely re-do your house and gut your kitchen and bathrooms.
That’s not realistic. HGTV is not real life. These tips are going to be for real people who may only have a few hundred bucks or a thousand dollars to spruce up the house. And if you only had a small amount of money, wouldn’t you want to spend it on those items that will bring you the highest return? Of course.
So with that being said, let’s take a look at the top seven things you can do to get the best return on investment: Number one is paint. By far the best thing you can do to prepare your home to sell on a limited budget is to paint. You’re going to want to freshen up living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, really whatever needs it, with a fresh coat of paint in a light, neutral color. If you already have a light-colored paint job in your house, then maybe you can get by with just doing touch-ups.
But if you have bold colors like red, yellow, green, purple, and basically anything that would catch someone’s attention, you’re best bet is to get a fresh coat of neutral paint.
You don’t want people to remember the color of paint in your house. You almost want the paint to be an afterthought as it’s purpose is to open up the space, make the room look larger, and to compliment any furniture in your house. Number two is to improve lighting where possible. Notice I said where possible. Don’t go out and buy a lavish chandelier.
Don’t spend money on a fixture that clearly doesn’t fit the space due to style or size. Whereas the goal of the paint was to almost avoid attention, when it comes to light fixtures, you want people to notice how nice the fixture is and how bright the rooms are.
And the best part about it is you can go to Home Depot and get really nice looking track lighting and other lighting fixtures for only a hundred bucks or even cheaper. Old out-dated light fixtures detract from the real value of the house. New lighting fixtures brighten up your house, they make your home look bigger, and it’s one of the best investments you can make before your sell your home.
Number three is to replace wall switches, faucets, knobs, and door handles. The small things make a difference. These are fixes and upgrades that cost a very little monetary amount and end up making a huge difference. Now you may be thinking, what am I going to spend $50 replacing wall switches and redeem $100 in value? It’s not worth it.
Think in terms of time on the market. Your home may not sell for more directly because you take out your door knobs from the 1940’s and replace them with ones from this century, but your home will sell faster.
And time is money. So if you have old outlets, strange fixtures, and dirty or yellow wall light switches, change those out. The new ones will pair well with your fresh coat of paint.
Number four is to do minor kitchen upgrades. Now I say this one with a little bit of hesitation, because sometimes we can get carried away in the kitchen. We’re not talking about a gut job or opening up walls or anything like that. Things to consider on a tight budget would be to install granite countertops, custom backsplash, or re-face the cabinets. Notice I said OR because these are expensive.
But if your kitchen is outdated or a little behind-the-times, doing one of these things can help significantly. If you can only do one of the three, consider doing the countertops first. If you already have nice countertops, go for cabinet refacing. If you have both of those, put in a cool backsplash. That’s what buyers are looking for these days.
Be sure to pick a design that won’t turn off buyers. But sexy kitchens sell properties. If it’s in your budget consider doing minor upgrades to the kitchen Number five is to install hardwood floors instead of carpet. Imagine if your living room, dining room, rec room, or even bedroom has carpet that needs to be replaced. Well instead of replacing it with carpet, consider replacing the carpet with a laminate hardwood floors.
Hardwood floors make homes feel bigger and its what buyers want. Nobody wants carpet anymore. Again, this one might be something where the budget is an issue, so if it is, maybe only install hardwoods in the living space. The first impression is everything with buyers and new hardwood floors instead of carpet is a great way to impress buyers and to make your space seem much larger.
Number six is staging.
Staging your property to sell is one of the best things you can do to sell your home quickly and for the most amount of money. Here’s the deal, no matter what anyone tells you, most buyers cannot imagine how furniture will fit in a room unless they see it in-person. And not only that, staged homes will have a warm, homey feeling as compared to vacant homes that can give off cold, unfriendly vibes. The pictures online will also look better, rooms will look bigger, awkward spaces can be taken care of, and above all staging helps place the attention on the benefits of the homes and helps to hide any flaws.
Staging costs about $1,000 – $2,000 for condos and $2,500 – $4,000 for houses.
Now that’s a lot of money. But if you are selling your house 30 days faster than you would have originally and for more than you would have if the home was empty, then you are making back that money and more when you stage your home before you put it on the market. Finally number seven is landscaping. The great part about this one is that you can do it yourself and not spend any money! Or spend very little on plants and mulch.
Do the bare minimum and then go from there. First things first, you have to have the grass nicely trimmed at all times. We had a home listed for sale over the summer and I went to do the open house about 2 weeks after we listed the home and the entire front yard was overgrown. I’m thinking, what are we doing? An unkept yard and poor curb appeal could already seal the fate of the home even before the buyer walks through the front door.
Landscaping can be very expensive. What you want to do is to get your yard looking nice, get rid of weeds, mulch where necessary, and add in some flowers depending on the time of year.
Guys curb appeal is a big deal. Make sure the home looks as good on the outside as it does on the inside. There you have it, the top seven things you can do to on a budget to get the best return on your investment when you look to sell your house.
What are your thoughts? Does my list match your list? Let me know in the comment section below if you have any other items you would add to this list for the best ROI.