Home presale consultant Jay Hart said, “You’re losing 90% of your potential market by not making any updates…” before selling your home, and he’s right!
The real estate market has changed a lot in recent years, and this has influenced what buyers are looking for in a home. Today’s buyers want homes with a lot of space and updated features, but not many owners are smart enough to spend on updates before listing.
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to clean out your account to update your property before selling – that’s not what this post is about.
Rather, as the experts at Ideal Home would suggest, get a pretty good idea of what your home is currently worth and which budget-friendly updates you can make that can exponentially drive up your property’s value.
If you’re a senior homeowner, this might mean using a reverse mortgage calculator like this one here https://reverse.mortgage/calculator to run your numbers and know your home’s worth before deciding on whether to invest in any upgrades or (if you’re short on cash), get a reverse mortgage and use it for budget-friendly updates that will boost property value.
In any case, here are five of these upgrades you should focus on to get the best ROI.
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Upgrade the Kitchen
As the Editor in Chief of Style at Home, Erin McLaughlin would say, “A kitchen renovation is sometimes like a bad boyfriend. You can’t always get what you want.” And she’s on point, it’s nearly impossible to update your entire kitchen without spending more than necessary (no matter how tempting it might be).
So, instead, focus on adding cool technology that will increase your property value, and make cooking and cleaning easier without changing everything, like installing smart light fixtures that you can control with your phone or voice.
You can adjust the brightness to make them brighter when you’re cooking or dimmer when you’re eating dinner. These lights can even change colors to match your mood, and buyers love them!
You can also add smart speakers. They can set timers, play music, or even help you find recipes. They can also guide you on how to cook something while your hands are busy mixing or chopping. These are the kind of features buyers love to see in any property.
Add a New One or Update the Existing Bathroom
Bathrooms are one of the biggest (if not the biggest) selling points in every property. If you have the space and budget for it, adding an extra bathroom can increase your home’s value by over 10%.
But if you don’t have the finances, then that’s fine. Channel your budget to updating the ones you have. Focus on these areas:
- Installing smart mirrors
- Updating old fixtures like faucets, shower heads, and toilet handles
- Fixing motion sensor lights that turn on automatically when someone enters
- Painting the bathroom
- Fixing the shower and tub
- Adding storage
Making these small but very important upgrades will make your buyers happy.
Focus on Flooring
Flooring is the first things buyers notice when they walk into your property. They cover a lot of space, so they have a big impact on how the whole house feels. Old, worn, or damaged floors can make even a nice house feel cheap.
According to home staging and presale consultant Jay Hart, he once worked for a client who didn’t see the need to spend $5k on updating their hardwood flooring, but after convincing them to make the investment, the owner sold the property for $150,000 more than the market price they had in mind.
Of course, flooring like hardwood floors is not cheap, but you don’t have to opt for the most expensive options either. There are many good options like engineered wood or high-quality vinyl that look like real wood but cost less and are easier to maintain.
And for the most important part, they will give you a return on investment by boosting your property value.
Create Space Where You Can
Help your buyers imagine how they would feel using your property by making it feel as large as possible. Consider removing walls that aren’t needed for support. Opening up the space between the kitchen and living room or dining room is very popular.
Better storage solutions can also make your home feel more spacious. Built-in shelves, closet organizers, and other storage improvements will show buyers what they want to see – more than enough space to fit in their furniture and live.
Paint!
Fresh paint makes everything look clean and new, and it can completely change the mood of a room. It’s also something most owners can do themselves, which keeps the cost low.
The most important thing about paint color is to keep it neutral. Bright colors or bold patterns might reflect your personal style, but they can turn off leads who have different tastes. Stick to whites, light grays, and soft beiges that will appeal to most people.
Don’t just think about the walls. Painting the trim, doors, and ceilings can make just as much difference. White trim and ceilings make rooms feel bigger and brighter. If your trim is currently a dark color, painting it white can modernize the whole house.
Wrapping Up
Selling a property is more about appeal than potential. Don’t just think ‘I have a great home that anyone will love,” and get lazy on updating that home to appeal to your buyers. They are not in your mind, and can’t see what you see in the property.
So instead, try to view your home from their perspective and invest in these improvements we’ve discussed. That way, you can justify a higher asking price, and more importantly, making these updates will help your house sell faster. So, Good luck!
