Home sales are expected to reach and all-decade high this year, according to The National Association of Realtors. If you're about to sell your home, Consumer Reports has some thrifty tips that will help make your space seem like someone else's.
When selling your house, first impressions matter. Prepare your space for the most important visitors you may ever have: prospective home buyers.
- Start in the rooms that are most important to buyers: your kitchen and bath. The costliest mistake a seller can make is ignoring grime, odors and clutter. So clean the rooms and clear the clutter. Tighten up any loose handles and fix drippy faucets.
- If you have an outdated bathroom, the money spent there on a small counter top or new flooring can boost your sale price by 2-3%.
- Realtors surveyed by Consumer Reports agreed it doesn't pay to paint all your rooms. Instead, just cover up bold colors and give your front door a coat of paint in a welcoming color.
- To help potential buyers imagine themselves living in your house, remove family photos and personal items to make the home as neutral as possible.
- Put as much as you can into boxes in the basement or garage, and get rid of any bulky furniture that's not moving to your new place.
- Before showing your house, open up the shades and curtains to shine some light in your space.
Consumer Reports says 9 out of 10 buyers shop for homes on the internet, so web appeal is the new curb appeal. So don't just take shots of your home with your phone. Have someone take high resolution pictures of every room with a DSLR camera in natural light.
