Easy upgrades for maximum home value
In today’s market, it’s about putting your best foot forward to maximize the profits from your home and investment. You don’t have to spend tens of thousands but little changes can make a huge difference and bring great returns.
1. Update your kitchen. It doesn’t have to look like a celebrity chef came by and renovated but it needs to offer great working space, be clean, and hopefully somewhat updated. What to fix on a budget? How about some new faucets, change the sink (consider copper as an option, funky cool but also antibacterial), update the counters (tumblestones, quartz, granite or granite tile), repaint the cabinets and change out the knobs. A little goes a long way here.
2. Bathrooms… These are hot buttons for buyers. You can’t clean a bathroom enough. All surfaces should gleam, the room have a slight but pleasant aroma whether floral or herbal, and all clutter should be put away in the cabinets. Break out the nice towels and create a spa-like feel.
3. Open up your floor plan. If you take a wall down and make the living area more open the home will appear bigger and be right on point for today’s hottest home trend. Make sure that a licensed electrician, plumber or GC tells you it’s ok to take the wall down before you take out that sledge hammer and start whacking away.
4. Create added rooms or storage areas. If an area can be turned into a bedroom, storage area or create an additional functional space, go for it! This adds value and helps your equity.
5. If it’s bright and light, you’re doing all right. Update your lighting, add in LED can lights (greening your home adds so much value!), replace chandeliers, put in dimmers and modernize. An electrician can change your home in less than a day.
6. Clean it up. A deep cleaning is amazing. Just say no to dust and grime. All the little nooks and crannys that collect schmutz need to be cleaned out. Break out the natural cleaning supplies, make some yourself with essential oils and get to work (or hire someone to do it). When your home smells fresh and clean, it’s super attractive to buyers.
7. Cheer it up with paint. There are some amazing new modern color palettes through the major paint companies that will update a home and give it a fresh outlook. You don’t have to paint the whole room but just doing a wall in a room adds a new perspective and makes it more interesting and modern
8. A little powerwashing goes a long way. Have the exterior of the home powerwashed including the lanai and pavers or pressed concrete. While you’re at it, have the roof cleaned too if it’s a tile or metal roof. Don’t feel like doing it yourself? As Mike always says, “I’ve got a guy for that.” And we do.
9. Update your outdoors. We spend a lot of time outside in the winter here in Naples. Add some pots with pretty flowering annuals (or perennials), plant a pineapple (and wait for the harvest), put some furniture outside with a nice umbrella and perhaps a fire pit. Make the outside as inviting as the inside.
10. Check for home issues. Look for issues like rotten fascia, cracks, plumbing issues or electrical problems that might pop up on an inspection report. If you can see them a buyer certainly will and that might keep them from making a better offer on your home.
We’d be happy to stop by and let you know what we think needs to be done on your home to get it ready to sell. Give us a call at 239.293.0246.
