Making a move is stressful, emotional, time-consuming, costly, and disruptive.

By planning and managing early, these relatively low-cost investments may be the most lucrative projects you ever undertake to maximize your home's sale price; not to mention minimizing the disruptive time it may cause you while your home is on the market.

Remember that every problem and its corresponding cost that a buyer sees will be potentially deducted from the offer price.  Here is what I recommend:

Declutter Now

·       Decide what you want to keep, throw away, donate, give to family, or sell.

• Have separate boxes for each option and every week add to your boxes until full and move accordingly.
• Remember the end goal when it comes time to sell is a decluttered, depersonalized home for staging with no personal items on counters, tables and other visible areas.

Freshen up

• Invest in low-cost projects that have a high return on investment
• Freshen up your home with new paint. Try to stay as neutral as you can in large common areas ie; kitchen, family room, bedrooms. If you want to play with a splash of colour, try the powder room but research trendy colors before you do.
• New lighting in high traffic areas. Lighting is an important component that sets the tone and character of your home, you should replace those outdated fixtures.
• Flooring, especially hardwood, is a good consideration to replace old carpet areas and is very popular and desired by buyers. Vinyl flooring is another popular option.
• Grout in bathrooms and kitchens can be cleaned or replaced and make a big contribution to freshen the appearance.
• New handles in the kitchen and bathrooms quickly create a fresh appearance.

Fix Up or Replace

Those long-awaited pesky chores might distract your buyer. Go through your home as if you were buying it and consider what you would change or fix:

• Fix loose handles, doorknobs, sticky drawers particularly in the kitchen and bathroom.
• Repair leaking taps, pipes and running toilets.
• Clean sticky and/or oil squeaky doors and windows.
• Replace screen doors and repair, or even replace windows.
• Consider upgrading your AC, furnace and electrical - higher cost items but they matter to buyers.

Curb Appeal

·       Freshen up the landscaping with new plants.

• Create walking paths to interesting area of your front and back yard.
• Use mulch to freshen the garden areas.
• Keep your lawn healthy and weed free.
• Paint your front door with a colour that makes it stand out.
• Trim trees and bushes.
• Create a welcoming feeling with outdoors chairs and sitting areas.
• Examine your eaves and downspouts, clean where needed.
• Replace the roof shingles if old or showing major signs of wear, this tends to be more expensive than some of the lower cost projects mentioned above but the age of the roof will be one of the questions most buyers ask.
• Examine the state of your driveway and if appropriate have it sealed to freshen its appearance.

Final Thoughts

I have provided the obvious but sometimes forgotten projects that are not always considered when it's time to sell for maximum selling price. All these projects create the right appearance and confidence for your buyer when it comes time to sell. Remember the goal, maximize price, minimize time on the market.

All the best with your future moving plans!  Sue

If you find this information useful, or there is another topic you would like me to highlight, please text or call me at 905-892-8493