Selling Your Home?

Do you know the best way to sell your home?

The “secret” to making top dollar when you sell your home isn’t really a secret at all – it's the basic common sense ideas. But because it involves a lot of discipline and elbow grease, many people decide to cut corners. And that’s when the price you could command begins to drop.

Do not be one of those people. During my years in real estate, I've seen countless examples where well-considered, well-placed investments of time and a little money have dramatically improved the sales price and increased the speed in which a home has been sold.

Even minor home improvements can substantially improve the value and marketability of your home. In today’s economy, there are no guarantees that you will recoup what you spend to improve the value of your home – all the more reason it’s important to pick the right investments.

But even when you don’t recoup all the money you invest to upgrade, many improvements can give you an important edge over other homes on the market. And the failure to make some improvements can leave you at a distinct disadvantage as buyers compare your home with the competition.

Spend time before you spend a dime

Unless your home is in mint condition or you’re selling it as a “fixer-upper,” there’s probably a long list of repair or remodeling projects to consider. These can range from relatively simple jobs, such as painting a bathroom, to more complex room-addition or remodeling projects.

In considering any home improvement project, you need to ask yourself a couple questions: Why are you doing it? Is it work that really needs to be done – a paint job or replacing a leaky roof? Or is it an amenity you’d like that you think might appeal to a potential buyer – a hot tub or home office addition, for example. Will it add value to your home, or have no impact at all? Or will it make your home more difficult to sell?

Some investments – like painting and yard work – involve relatively little cash outlay and yet return many times your cost. Other improvements that you think add value have no significant impact. Adding a swimming pool is a good example. Besides the hassles of maintenance, a pool can reduce your home’s appeal among families with small children because of safety concerns.

Planning is everything

If there’s one piece of advice we would give every homeowner regardless of the circumstances, it’s this: Plan first, then do. Careful planning on your part is a prerequisite to undertaking any home improvement project, major or minor. In fact, the quickest way a “minor” project balloons into a major one is when you haven’t thought things through in advance. We’ve seen more people get in over their heads because they didn’t think things through before starting work.

If you take these simple things into account before listing your home, you can be guarrenteed a much better showing.

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