Help You Sell Your Home With These 10 Affordable Tweaks

Craftsman front door

Selling your home can be a stressful time, as you’re transitioning to move out and also preparing your house for showing. We’ve got your back with these 10 affordable tweaks that you can DIY in just a few hours or a few days.  The time is bound to be investment well spent.

Landscape and Exteriors Quick Clean Up

Dirty looking exteriors and overgrown plants make a home look neglected.   It can give the impression that the home itself may be in need of expensive repairs.Landscaping You won’t believe how much better your home can look like after spending a few dollars for a quick hose down, perhaps new hardware, a freshly painted garage door, and newly-replaced downspouts and gutters. The total for all these can be as little as just around $100 but can look like you spent thousands!

Give Your Door and Doorbell Some Love

Prospective buyers will come through your front door so simply making sure that the doorbell is working.  Making sure there is no cracking or peeling paint goes a long way to make a smooth sale.

Evaluate All Doors

Doors often make such a huge impact that how the knobs and hinges look like can make or break a sale. You can update all your doors for just a hundred dollars (or a couple of hundreds) so this is a tweak that is definitely worth looking into. Sometimes a hardware change may be all that you need.

Don’t Forget Carpets and Floors

Fixing stained carpets and scratched floors is pretty easy. You can rent carpet steam cleaners and floor polishers for a reasonable rate at a nearby home depot in most cities.

Scent it RightSmell the chocolate chip cookies

Quite a growing number of people have serious scent allergies so it might be best to lay off synthetic scents. Some buyers will also think that you’re trying to mask something if you use odor eliminators and air fresheners. It might be best to simply clean the home, air it out, and maybe bake fresh bread or cookies a few hours before showing. We bet no one has an allergy to fresh cookies!

Clean and Fix Any Wall Blemishes

Scruff marks, streaks, and dirt on the walls can age your house, plus make it look uncared for. When preparing a home for a sale, paint the walls in a neutral light color and make sure to fill any nail holes. Your walls will look brand new!

Organize Your Things!

Having a place for everything makes your house look a lot roomier than it really is. You might also want to look into putting some of your things at a storage facility to make the home clutter-free.

Fix Cabinets and Drawer Tracks

Drawers that won’t slide out and cabinet doors that are falling off the hinges are a turn-off, no matter how pretty a home is. Potential buyers always check the kitchen so simply oiling the tracks, tightening screws, plus replacing hinges and hardware can do so much to make your house more desirable.

Clean Your Appliances

Any appliance that will be a part of the sale should look like they belong in the kitchen and not the dump. Old but clean appliances can draw in the offers more than new but sad looking ones. This ‘upgrade’ costs next to nothing too!

Polish with Finishes

Replacing bathroom elements such as faucets, towel racks, toilet paper holders, and showerheads can significantly brighten bathrooms. A new curtain, a new mat, and fresh folded towels can update the look of a bathroom with minimal effort.

These ideas will help you make a great first impression on potential buyers.  If you have more serious issues to address you might want to evaluate how much we want to invest in updates and renovations.

WRITTEN BY MICHAEL PORTER