5 Quick and Easy Updates for Home Sellers

When Home Sellers are getting ready to sell a home, it’s almost inevitable that they’ll look around and see some things they need to improve to attract buyers. Heck, if you watch HGTV just a few times a week, you’ll likely recognize your home’s shortcomings. It will look old even to you.

And that presents a problem: You recognize that your home needs updates in order to sell it, but, not intending to stay there, you might not want to dump a bunch of money into something you’re not going to be around to enjoy. Everyone wants granite counter-tops, for example, and you like them too, but if you could have afforded them or wanted them that badly, you would have put them in for yourself years ago, not for the next owner now.

Not to worry. There are plenty of ways to cheaply and easily update your home to get it ready to sell, to make it nice enough for buyers to want, but not so nice that you no longer want to sell. Here are five quick and easy updates home sellers might consider:

Modern paint colors

Everyone tells you that a home for sale needs to have neutral wall colors. But white is a neutral color, one that your grandmother might have had in her house, which is far from updated. Off-white and even plain beige paints are neutral but not necessarily modern. The trend now seems to be “greige” tints, a mix of beige and gray. A quick online search can tell you what paint colors are currently the most popular, as can the guy at the local store that sells to builders of new homes. If you want to update your home, figure out what colors new homes are getting.

Get in the kitchen

A major kitchen upgrade is expensive and time-consuming, but an old kitchen can be given new life with a few smaller projects. White paint on walls might be outdated, but painting kitchen cabinets white is in vogue and is much cheaper than replacing them. Switching out cabinet hardware, changing light fixtures, adding a contemporary tile back-splash or installing laminate flooring are all little ways to modernize a kitchen without spending a ton of money or time.

Cover up or strip down

Nothing turns off potential buyers quite as much as out-of-date or worn carpeting. It’s super-noticeable. It’s also an easy fix. If you were staying in the home, you’d want to put in good carpeting. But even inexpensive carpeting looks good for a while, and since you’re selling, modern looks are going to be more important than durability. Along those lines, if you have worn hardwood floors instead of carpeting, you might consider refinishing them to add new life and a more contemporary stain color.

Window dressing

Now that your walls are a modern color and your new carpet makes for contemporary flooring, your window coverings probably look even more dated. Even if they’re not so out of style, years of sunlight can leave them faded. Again, if you were staying in the home, you’d want a more permanent solution to drab drapes or blah blinds. But since you’re moving, you can dress up windows with new, inexpensive coverings that simply look good. Discount mass-merchandisers and home-goods stores usually have plenty of cheap-but-trendy curtains that you can put up yourself in a matter of hours.

It can be the little things

Sometimes, a house that’s been updated here or there over the years has small details that remain, and they betray the home’s overall updating. This can include things such as brass door hardware, old faucets and shower heads, garish light fixtures or antique furniture that isn’t even really part of the home. A lot of little things might add up, but what’s the point of making the big things modern only to have the little things stick out like an out-of-date sore thumb? Home Sellers can replace dated door handles and lights throughout a house for a few hundred bucks, and moving your precious antiques into the attic until you sell is free.

Home seller can’t change the actual age of their house. But there’s no shortage of old homes with fresh updates that sell for top dollar, and do so quickly. Sure, it’s bad news that your home has some outdated features, but the good news is there are some quick, easy updates for just about any home seller’s budget.

Contact Mona Koussa today for your free Home Evaluation