by Dave Williams

I’d like to start with Don’t, it is a bad idea.  I understand there is a mountain of effort and looking at everything need to get your house ready to sell seems like a Sisyphean effort. I get it, my family would have to move out of our home before we could even think of selling it, and that’s not an exaggeration, as an experienced real estate representative I know I would make more money and sell faster if we moved out and staged the home.

But let’s say you want to or have to sell your house “As Is”.  What do you need to know?

You are going to sell you house for much less.  Buyers psychologically deduct up to x4 the cost of repairs when considering what to offer.

 

In this era of TV shows like Critical Listings (http://www.hgtv.ca/criticallisting/), House Hunters (http://www.hgtv.ca/househunters/) and Flip it to Win It (http://www.hgtv.ca/flipittowinit/) these buyers have higher expectations of what a seller can do for very little money to make a home look like a model home.  As a result they view unstated house as either desperation or lack of motivation, resulting in either low ball offers or nothing.

What can you do for nothing to improve your sales price?

If you need to sell your house, and are looking to add value without spending any money on improving it start with cleaning & decluttering it.

Empty the home of anything that is not furniture and keep only 1 or 2 pieces of furniture in each room.  Keep book shelves, closets, dressers & cupboards at most half full, but 3/4 empty is best.  Pack up your clothes, treasured items, pictures, drawers and shoes, and store them somewhere else.

Then scrub it top to bottom, inside and out.  Clean the floors, walls, counters and sinks, toilets and tubs, and most importantly the windows on both sides to let as much natural light into the home as possible.  Download our free Home Cleaning Checklist (from our home selling page) to get the most value from your home when selling.

What can you do for a limited budget to improve your sales price.

Painted the house.  Painted is considered the highest return on investment when selling you home. When it comes to interior colors, Earth tones, including shades of brown, green, blue, orange, and someredsandtans depict the colors in nature, and they’re warm and inviting colors for living rooms and dining rooms. Because they’re flat and muted, they’re soothing and relaxing and work well with most colors and tones. Earth tones also complement rooms with a lot of wood, stone, metal or glass

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What can you do for a few hundred dollars?

Hire a stager, if want to get the greatest value in preparing your home for sale hire a staging consultant to give you a personal recommendation for your house and if you decide to invest a little bit more to get a higher sale from your home complete as may of the stagers recommendations a s possible.

Hope this helps you understand real estate a little better.

As always if you have any real estate questions ask them below, or contact us directly at 613-788-2113.