When you need to sell a house, stylistic changes can matter a lot. Even when the yard, floor plan, and features are all the same, how a house looks will very strongly influence how quickly it sells. So it's no wonder that most home sellers put effort into redecorating and updating a home on the market. If you want to sell quickly, the key is to know which projects are profitable and which will be a waste of time.
If you're looking to find a buyer fast, spending a few weekends making updates is definitely worth the effort. And, today, we're here to help you choose the most beneficial projects for your home sale. These five projects are relatively simple DIY tasks that will make a big difference.
Skipping the Obvious
The most helpful thing you can do for a home sale is to repaint in this year's trendy neutral tones. But chances are that you both already knew that and have already done that. So let's skip the usual painting tip and jump right to the good stuff.
1) Reinvigorate Your Floors
Source: Home Depot
Source: Home Depot
Everyone cares about floors, but we usually don't realize it until touring a house with less than perfect flooring. Chipped tile, scratched wood, or crunchy carpet can be a turn-off for any buyer. Fortunately, you don't have to reinstall the floors to get them back up to new-house quality, you just have to be willing to tackle repairs.
A house doesn't have to be shown and sold with damaged floors. Broken tiles can be replaced with new tiles of the same design, and grouted just like new. And hardwood can be filled and resealed to minimize the appearance and impact of past damage. You can even repair linoleum in some cases with cut pieces that match the existing pattern perfectly.
If there is any carpet in your home, rent a steam cleaner. Then use it according to instructions until the liquid comes back clean. You'll be glad you did, and amazed at how fluffy and clean old carpets can become.
2) Refinish the Cabinetry
Source: Home Depot
Source: Home Depot
Most people don't realize, but completely changing the look and feel of your kitchen and bathrooms is surprisingly easy. All you need to do is refinish the cabinets. You don't even have to replace the doors, though you can if you want to.
A fresh coat of paint will add a brand new accent color to your kitchen or bathroom designs. New handles can make a kitchen look much higher quality, simply by improving the quality of the handles themselves. If you do replace the cabinet doors, consider glass panels or a decorative grate that adds new design elements to the room. These are easy to repaint, refinish, or reinstall and will take less than a day to finish if you plan correctly.
3) Replace the Light Fixtures
Source: Home Depot
Source: Home Depot
Light fixtures (and plumbing fixtures) are another easy-to-change part of your house that many home sellers tend to overlook. Spending a few hundred on new light fixtures that make your house look elegant or trendy can completely transform the look and feel of your living areas. Adding the right light fixture can make a house look newer and, sometimes more importantly, remove old light fixtures that made the house look shabby in the process.
The most important thing to remember here, beyond style, is safe electrical procedures. Always turn off a circuit before doing anything more dangerous than changing a light bulb. We advise working with a licensed electrician, or asking one to inspect your DIY work once complete.
4) Reinvent Your Entryway
Curb appeal is a vitally important aspect of your home selling speed because it influences how buyers feel about your house from the first moment they see it. And the appearance of your front door and entryway will impact how they view the entire rest of the home.
Most people don't realize, but if your door has glass inserts inside the door, or to either side of the door, these are surprisingly easy to replace. With new inserts that show off greater style and wealth, you can significantly increase the final sale value of the home. Reinvent the appearance of your entryway by replacing old glass panels or installing new panels to liven up an otherwise boring entry space.
Source: Home Depot
Source: Home Depot
Finally, don't forget that small and medium-sized greenery is pretty easy to replace. If your garden is shabby, unloved, or even too cluttered, you can absolutely change that before passing the house off to your lucky buyer. Consider tailoring the yard to the kind of buyer you're envisioning. If you expect families to be most interested, consider installing a tree swing out front or building a delightfully 'secret' play area in the back garden.
Or, if you're targeting an older crowd, raised flower beds in planters are a joy to work with for older gardening enthusiasts. Simply customizing the lovely plants leading up to your home can help buyers feel the charm of the house and encourage them to commit to a bid.
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