Thinking about selling your house in Vancouver or the Tri-Cities area? When it comes time to sell and maximize the value without spending too much time or money on repairs and upgrades, you’ve got some decisions to make. Some things are too expensive or time consuming to tackle, while others will offer a far greater boost to the initial price.
Being wise in your decisions about what to fix and where to spend your money can make all the difference between getting your target asking price and having to settle. Keep reading to learn more.
The best ways to spend your time and money before putting your house on the market
You have more than one option to sell your house in the Vancouver and Tri-Cities areas and each has pros and cons. It’s important to note that if you don’t have the time or resources available to do even these suggested fixes, you may not want to sell your house by listing it. Alternatives exist; for example, you could sell your house as-is to a real estate company like Summit Development. But if you want to maximize your asking price and are willing to navigate the unknown, you’ll want to list it and make a few of these suggested repairs first:
Interior Fixtures
One quick and easy way to update any house is to replace things like faucets, drawer and door handles, lighting fixtures, cupboard hinges, doorknobs, locks, etc. Modernizing these parts of your home in every room will allow you to add value without spending much time or money at all. This can be done on a small budget with a big ROI if you do it right.
Entryway & Curb Appeal
When you want your house to sell on the market in Vancouver or the Tri-Cities, you are going to need a strong first impression. This means a strong first impression of the house when they drive up (a.k.a. “Curb Appeal”) as well as a strong first impression upon entering the home itself. Both need to convey a feeling of warmth and have a strong indication of good upkeep. Here are a few things in both areas you can replace or update in order to quickly improve the first impression without breaking your budget:
- Curb: Landscaping, mailbox, front door, address numbers, lawn grooming.
- Entryway: New side table, fresh flower, a new piece of modern art, a new vase, etc.
Carpeting
One of the biggest turnoffs to potential buyers is a bad carpet. Stains are particularly offending. If you want the house to sell on the MLS, you’ll want to replace all the carpet.
Paint
You were likely already thinking of doing some painting. This is the number one thing people do to update a home they put on the market. However, our point is that a paint job poorly done will look just as bad as an outdated one. It is best to have a professional paint job included in your renovations budget. This will likely be a few thousand dollars (depending on the size of your property). This is a far better option than something like spot painting over the damage. This sends a message that you are trying to hide things and that there be more you things to worry about for potential buyers.
Clearly Define Each Room
It doesn’t matter how you’ve used the room for the past number of years, if it’s supposed to be a spare bedroom, make it a spare bedroom instead of the spare bedroom/gym/office/pet room. There is a subtle confusion that can make buyers feel uneasy when rooms are multipurpose. Whatever the room is (office, gym or spare bedroom), make it that and that alone.
Staging
Like with painting, we recommend you hire a professional company to stage your home. A big thing you can do to help with this is to move out everything from your home into storage that you don’t absolutely need. Additionally, as staging can be expensive, you can just stage one or two rooms to give buyers an idea while the open space in the rest of the house will invite them to imagine how they might decorate it.
Consider Selling Directly Instead
Summit Development proudly serves homeowners and investors in Vancouver (360-667-5424) and the Tri-Cities (509-591-9196) with a variety of services designed to help them make the best possible decisions about selling their home. Selling your home for top dollar on the market with an agent is a time-consuming process that requires a large financial investment. If you want to know more about selling your house quickly at zero cost to yourself without the need for an agent or any of these repairs, call one of our offices to talk more.