8 Inexpensive Things Sellers Can Do to Improve Their Homes Market Value

So, you are getting ready to put your home on the market, but you don’t want to spend a ton of money to fix it up. You understand that by upgrading your appliances and changing your countertops you could possibly add significant value to your home, however, due to your circumstances you want to spend as little money as possible. Here are 8 inexpensive tips that can really help change the look of a home without breaking the bank. 

 

It’s a real thing, the first impression is the most important thing. Consider renting a pressure washer if your porch and driveways are looking dirty and dull. Home Depot rents them for $70-$100. Also, while you have the pressure washer, pressure wash all your outdoor furniture to make them look clean and well-kept. For our listings, we add a pop of color by adding flowers to the front entrance. Pro Tip: Buy hanging baskets, remove the hooks, and place them on a stand to provide an appealing height that welcomes visitors.

 

Paint is the cheapest home renovation tool that can drastically increase a purchase price. If your home has large scuff marks and scratches it might be time for you to update it with a fresh coat of paint. Similarly, if your home has wild colors-please paint it. Although you might love the neon orange in the living room; the average buyer is going to hate it. When selling your home, you want to appeal to the masses. When in doubt always choose neutral tones: whites, beige, light browns, tans, and some grays are always safe. If you’re really struggling ask a professional for their opinion. There are a few exceptions to the rules, on cute 1920’s style Craftsmen you might be able to get away with a brighter color pallet… but this is the exception, not the rule. Also, if a child’s room is painted a bright color, this would be generally ok to leave, consult your agent on the best way to market your specific home.

 

If you have a lawn, water it, the greener the better. You should also expect to keep up on mowing and watering while your home is on the market and under contract. Flowerbeds need to be weeded, and some bright flowers would be nice to add if it’s lacking. Alternately or in conjunction with this, consider adding non-manure-based mulch to the flowerbeds to amplify the look of a yard. You can buy a bag for $3.50 that covers 8 sqft, cheap and easy thing if you have a smaller yard.

 

If you’re planning on living in your home until you close, please declutter. This includes (but is not limited to) the kitchen, removing knick-knacks that are lying all over your house, closets (especially the master), and the garage (if you’re using the garage to store things just make it as organized as possible). Pro Tip: if you don’t think you can purge your closet remove all non-seasonal clothing. In the middle of summer, you do not need the large winter coat- put it in storage. Not only will a buyer not be able to see the full potential of the space with clutter, but it makes it incredibly hard for buyers to envision their stuff in the space.

 

Take down the photos of you and your family. Although most of us have a photo of our family in our home, having photos prevents potential buyers from envisioning themselves in the house. Plus, do you really want random people walking through your house seeing such personal memories- from that perspective it’s a bit creepy. If you aren’t hiring a stager (which is highly suggested, Forbes states that the average staged home sells for 17% more than a no staged home) consider your current furniture orientation. For example, you never want anyone to walk into the back of a couch upon entering a room. This creates a blockage in the view of the room. Subconsciously a buyer looking at the home won’t walk into a space that feels closed off. The goal for every showing is to have a buyer walk into every room and envision their furniture and what their life would look like in the home.

 

Carpets get dirty and stained, give them a professional cleaning right before listing. You can rent a machine or pay a company to do it so you don’t have to worry about it. Consider hiring a professional grout cleaner to get the built-up yellow color out of the grout. Grout is the substance usually found in-between tiles commonly found in bathroom showers. If you don’t want to do that, your local hardware store sells Grout Pens that will help recolor the yellow to white, priced from $5-$10. Wipe down cabinets, and in general, make your house as clean as possible.

 

Two easy and cheap things to upgrade are faucets and shower heads. They’re pretty inexpensive and not horribly difficult to change out, this can elevate the look of any bathroom and/or kitchen. A pet peeve of mine is mismatched door knobs. It’s such an inexpensive thing and so easy to change out. There is no reason to have chrome and a brass door knob on doors that are right next to each other. It’s such a simple way to make your home look more cohesive. If you don’t want to change out all the door knobs just try to match each level of your house to one type/color.

 

When it comes to your Bath and Body Works scented candle hold off lighting it for showings. One of the things my marketing degree has taught me is that certain industries require scenery marketing- Real Estate is one of them. Lighting a candle, spraying arousal, or spritzing any scent in the air is a thing many sellers do that isn’t benefiting them. Those scents immediately send suspicion to a buyer “what smell is the seller trying to cover up?” If you must have some scent in your home, go old school and bake a pie… but the best thing is just to open up the windows and let your home air out. (Side note if you’re trying to cover up a horrible, putrid, smell that won’t go away, then by all means light that pumpkin, vanilla spice, latte, macchiato candle)

 

In general, these are all things that can be done on a small budget that can improve your home's final sold price. I see it as free money sitting on the table, these are all things that will definitely give you a nice return on your dollar, and who wouldn’t like getting more money for their house?