If you are preparing a house for sale, it might be necessary to spend some money on it, if you want to sell the house without delay and at your desired price. There are areas where some money may need to be spent, beyond basic decluttering and cleaning. While there are some areas that aren't necessary to spend money on, you may need to spend a little cash in order to get your property sold.
Although it's obvious, this is a good beginning. From top to bottom, simply give the house a good cleaning. Make clutter disappear. Discard things you haven't used in several months. Wash woodwork, windows, ceilings, walls, and floors. Clean all the grout found in tiled countertops, floors, walls. Launder throw rugs or replace them with new colors, and steam clean carpeting. Fix all broken things. Replace cracked or broken windows, patch or replace screens in windows, fix or replace worn or broken window shades or blinds, replace broken light fixtures, patch holes or cracks.
Any unfinished repair work that you have left should be done. Not only will the buyer's home inspector find those issues anyway, but you are hindering offers if there are obvious repairs that need to be made. Unfinished repairs or projects reflect badly on the overall maintenance of the home and send up a red flag to would-be buyers. Nothing will make a buyer pull out of a deal and run for the hills faster than a home inspection report riddled with needed repairs and safety concerns.
Make sure you paint. Begin on the ceilings. More time than you would think is spent staring at ceilings. You don't want them to see stains from grease or smoke and ceiling cracks, while they are looking for signs of a leaky roof. New paint is the most cost effective improvement, and nothing else says freshness like it does. On large cracks, use fiberglass tape and cover it with joint compound and sand. A good neutral color for paint is a light tan.
Old or stained carpet could be replaced before it goes up for sale. To get it ready to show, a professional cleaning is often good enough, but it might not always be. Stained or dated carpet is a huge turnoff to potential buyers, especially if you have pets. No one is interested in purchasing a house with carpet stained by other peoples' pets, even if they are pet lovers themselves.
The light available in your home should be maximized. Every buyer cites good light as the one thing that that they want in a home, after location. Take down the drapes, clean the windows, change the lampshades, increase the wattage of your light bulbs and cut the bushes outside to let in sunshine. Your house will be more sellable if you make it bright and cheery.
If you do it yourself and use some creative planning and ideas, fixing up your home can be painless and inexpensive. You're off to a good start with these tips.
Although it's obvious, this is a good beginning. From top to bottom, simply give the house a good cleaning. Make clutter disappear. Discard things you haven't used in several months. Wash woodwork, windows, ceilings, walls, and floors. Clean all the grout found in tiled countertops, floors, walls. Launder throw rugs or replace them with new colors, and steam clean carpeting. Fix all broken things. Replace cracked or broken windows, patch or replace screens in windows, fix or replace worn or broken window shades or blinds, replace broken light fixtures, patch holes or cracks.
Any unfinished repair work that you have left should be done. Not only will the buyer's home inspector find those issues anyway, but you are hindering offers if there are obvious repairs that need to be made. Unfinished repairs or projects reflect badly on the overall maintenance of the home and send up a red flag to would-be buyers. Nothing will make a buyer pull out of a deal and run for the hills faster than a home inspection report riddled with needed repairs and safety concerns.
Make sure you paint. Begin on the ceilings. More time than you would think is spent staring at ceilings. You don't want them to see stains from grease or smoke and ceiling cracks, while they are looking for signs of a leaky roof. New paint is the most cost effective improvement, and nothing else says freshness like it does. On large cracks, use fiberglass tape and cover it with joint compound and sand. A good neutral color for paint is a light tan.
Old or stained carpet could be replaced before it goes up for sale. To get it ready to show, a professional cleaning is often good enough, but it might not always be. Stained or dated carpet is a huge turnoff to potential buyers, especially if you have pets. No one is interested in purchasing a house with carpet stained by other peoples' pets, even if they are pet lovers themselves.
The light available in your home should be maximized. Every buyer cites good light as the one thing that that they want in a home, after location. Take down the drapes, clean the windows, change the lampshades, increase the wattage of your light bulbs and cut the bushes outside to let in sunshine. Your house will be more sellable if you make it bright and cheery.
If you do it yourself and use some creative planning and ideas, fixing up your home can be painless and inexpensive. You're off to a good start with these tips.