The housing market is beginning to come back and sellers are starting to see a return on their investment. However, there are ways to increase your home’s market value that you can implement to make your home more appealing to potential buyers. If you have the means to hire professional cleaners and a staging expert, do it. When you receive higher offers, the cleaners and stager pay for themselves.
- Clean and remove clutter from every room. Clutter makes room appear smaller and disorganized. Also, it is helpful to take personalized items off tables and walls so that potential buyers can imagine their own things in the room.
- Repair floors and walls. Viewing a house in disrepair discourages buyers and can also devalue your home.
- A fresh coat of paint works wonders. Try to stay with colors that are more neutral and carry some colors from room to room to makes spaces feel extended and larger. Using a warm accent color on one wall in a room can make it feel cozier and more interesting.
- Group your furniture into pleasing conversational areas for a warmer feel to a room. It is not true that pushing furniture against the walls makes a room feel larger. Make each space be purposeful, as well as aesthetically pleasing. If you do not have enough furniture for this, there are furniture rental companies that you can use to flesh out a room, and these companies often have professional stagers who can lend a hand.
- Clean and re-organize closets and cupboards. Buyers will look behind closed doors, and your intention should be to make the best first impression possible.
- Attend to your home’s lighting, as lighting illuminates your home and sets the tone. Designate spaces where you can use ambient lighting for an overall feel, task lighting for specific workspaces, and accent lights on tables and walls.
- If you have paintings and other wall art, hang it creatively, not just in straight lines. This not only adds interest, but also gives buyers ideas on how they can better display their own art in a room.
- Use flowers and greenery from your garden to provide warmth. This just serves to give a room a more organic feel.
This all sounds like a lot of work and money, but everything can be done within your budget if you think outside the box a bit. Cleaning and staging your home will not only add to your home’s market value, but also give potential buyers some good ideas on how they can make your home their own.
