Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Life

Tag: 2024

  • How to Refresh Your Home for a Quick Sell

    Are you planning to sell your home but unsure what repairs or updates to make before you list? While it’s wise to tend to fixes and upgrades prior to putting your home on the market, you need to think carefully about what to makeover if you want to attract buyers and get the most money from your sale.

    Experts agree that checking comparative properties and considering your return on investment is an excellent initial step in deciding how to refresh your home for a quick sell. Since every home seller has different circumstances, we’ve compiled a list of general guidelines to help you figure out what you might want to renovate.

    Here are some of the fastest and most affordable ways to update your home for a quick sell in the new year.

    Freshen Up Paint

    Real estate agents frequently advise clients to paint their homes before they sell. Scratches, scuffs, chips, and peeling areas accumulate over the years, and while the homeowner may not notice them, buyers typically do. Additionally, many homes’ paint colors are faded, outdated, and unattractive to modern buyers. You don’t have to have a huge renovation budget to invest in a new coat of interior or exterior paint. If money is tight, find a good and affordable one-coat paint and then choose a neutral color to create a blank canvas for buyers. Freshly painted properties often sell quicker and command top dollar.

    Declutter

    Cluttered homes tend to look disorganized and unkept, and they can prevent a buyer from seeing a property’s full potential. Decluttering, therefore, is one of the most effective refreshes you can make before you sell and it’s one of the cheapest. To declutter your home and turn it into a space that buyers can envision as their own, go from room to room, eliminating anything unnecessary. Store, give, or throw away knickknacks, furniture, and other personal belongings that you don’t use or that don’t add to the picture you want to paint for a future buyer. Think about model homes you’ve been in or staged rooms you’ve seen in magazines. This is the image you need to present to buyers if you want to sell your home fast. Don’t forget to declutter drawers, cupboards, and closets and organize what’s left.

    Maximize Curb Appeal

    Maximize your home’s curb appeal if you want to sell quickly. You can get a realistic look at how your property’s exterior appears to potential buyers by walking the route leading from the street to your front door. Stand from a distance and inspect your house numbers, mailbox, garage door, gutters, walkway or entry steps, porch or deck, and front door. Pay close attention to landscaping, exterior lighting, railings, and fixtures like door knobs and doorbells. Does anything need to be fixed or refreshed? How can you make your home stand out from the crowd, either in cleanliness or design?

    Update Window Treatments

    New window treatments make a massive difference in how a home presents to potential buyers. Old, antiquated, and torn or broken blinds, curtains, and shades can make an otherwise acceptable property look outdated and even like a fixer-upper. For a small investment, you can update your window treatments to modern versions that help brighten a room and delight buyers. When choosing new window coverings, consider options that allow privacy while letting natural light in. Also, take note of the new smart designs with high-tech and hands-off controls for ease and efficiency.

    Remodel Your Kitchen

    Remodeling a kitchen returns 98.5% of a homeowner’s investment and promotes a quick sell. Even if you don’t want to or can’t do an extensive kitchen makeover, consider a minor refresh with a new backsplash, coat of cabinet paint, hardware set, major appliance, or statement light fixture. New kitchen tile can make the difference between a dated space and a modern room that’s ready for a new buyer.

    Focus on Fixtures

    Great lighting makes a massive impact and produces a ‘wow’ factor that can convince buyers your home is what they’re looking for. Today’s lighting trends include textured and subtle pendant lights, hidden lights, and mixed-metal fixtures. When refreshing the lighting in your home, remember to ensure all bulbs match. Additionally, for a fast sell, focus on refreshing door knobs, electrical outlets, cabinet hardware, and faucets. Replace any that are dented, scratched, not working, or past their prime in appearance in any way.

    Ready to start prepping your home for a quick sale this year? Let Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate® help.

  • Budget-Friendly New Year’s Renovations to Boost Your Home’s Value

    Whether you’ve moved into a new home and want to make it your own in the new year or are readying your property for sale, you can make some budget-friendly renovations to boost value instantly.

    Turning a recently purchased property into a dream home or getting more money from the one you’re leaving starts with making wise decisions about makeovers and upgrades.

    The key to choosing what to remodel first, or at all, is often a personal preference but can lie largely on what future buyers want. It should also depend, however, on careful consideration of the return you’ll get on your remodeling investment. And, since renovations always come with a cost, a detailed look at the money you have available is important when deciding what home improvement job to tackle.

    If you’re a homeowner who needs to be budget-conscious when taking on renovations, look to the following for inexpensive projects to start the new year.

    Add Exterior Lighting

    Landscape or exterior lighting might seem like a costly renovation, but there are many low-voltage lighting systems that homeowners can install themselves to forgo electron costs. Consider the abundance of DIY solar and smart lighting kits on the market. Or the easy-to-install and affordable deck lights or exterior wall sconces. Outdoor lighting adds a level of safety to a home and enhances its architectural features when thoughtfully planned, boosting value.

    Paint Inside and Out

    A fresh coat of paint is one of the best ways to quickly spike your home’s value. Paint instantly transforms and updates a property’s interior and exterior. Considering the average cost of a gallon of one-coat paint is roughly $38, you can see a tremendous visual gain for a relatively small investment. Neutral paint colors are on trend year after year as they provide a blank canvas for homeowners to create the look they envision within nearly any design style.

    Replace Your Entry Door

    Adding a new steel or fiberglass door bolsters home security and adds to a property’s resale value. It can provide homeowners with greater privacy, makes an excellent first impression, and is likely to recoup 85% of its cost upon the sale of a home.

    Upgrade the Garage Door

    Replacing a garage door is a fantastic way to improve a home’s curb appeal. For roughly $4,302 (the average price of a new garage door), you can increase your home’s resale value by $4,418 with this budget-friendly renovation. A garage door replacement is one of the few home improvement projects that typically lets you get your money back and then some when it’s time to sell.

    Add Siding or a Stone Veneer

    Depending on its use, stone veneer can impart a classic or modern vibe. Whatever your design style, you’ll probably find that improving your home’s exterior with a stone veneer – even on just part of it – can make the difference between boring and beautiful. Likewise, new siding can instantly boost a home’s visual appeal, and appraisers often look at the structural benefit of siding when determining a home’s value.

    Install Smart Home Technology

    Installing smart home technology quickly modernizes a home for little cost. It’s a great way to get more enjoyment from a property and make it more efficient and safe. The best smart home devices to boost value include connected lights, sprinkler systems, water leak detectors, appliances, window treatments, and security cameras.

    Make Small Fixes

    Sometimes, the littlest things make the biggest impact. Don’t overlook the value of new doorknobs, electrical outlets and covers, faucets, screens, and cabinet hardware on your home. For a minor cost, you can significantly upgrade your property’s exterior and interior and boost its worth.

    Add Low-Cost Landscaping

    Low-cost landscaping, such as colorful shrubs and trees and water-wise plants and gardens, are easy on the average homeowner’s budget while adding anywhere from 5% to 12% to a home’s value (depending on property location). Nearly every landscaping expert advises planting trees, which can add up to $9,000 in value. Drought-friendly and sustainable yards are cheap to design and save homeowners money in the long run by reducing energy costs.

    Lay New Floors

    Homes with old rugs and torn linoleum quickly get a value upgrade with a flooring replacement. Laminate floors that look like hardwood are popular among homeowners because they’re budget-friendly and beautiful. Cork, carpet, and ceramic tiles are great options to instantly bring style and appeal to an outdated property.

    Are you looking to buy and renovate a new home in the near year or update yours and sell it? Let Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate® help you when you’re ready.