1. Remember to pay attention to 5 key areas
It’s been a slow real estate market as you may have noticed. This means that selling a home just got harder. People generally won’t pay more than your assessed property value, unless you’ve got a home with unique character or historic value, or if it happens to be situated in a highly desirable area, or both. More importantly though, I’m finding buyers to be more resistant to paying a seller’s asking price, especially in cases that involve older homes that haven’t been updated in decades. The key to getting as much money from the buyer as you can is paying attention to the 5 key areas of a home that people will look at: (1) your kitchens [if you have more than one], (2) your bathrooms, (3) floors, (4) walls, and (5) ceiling. Is your floor looking all worn down after years of use and abuse? Do you have heavily textured or “popcorn” ceilings? Do you have dated-looking wallpaper or garish colours on your walls? Are any of your bathrooms or kitchens in need of a modern update like the 1990s-era relic shown below? These all must be addressed before you even sell your place. Talk to an interior designer or a design-build professional today to see how they can help you do a cosmetic renovation so your home can sell faster for a good price in a slow market.
2. Create a good first impression by staging your home properly
Doing virtual staging can help entice buyers to come to your open house. Once they’re there, they do expect to see a house filled with furniture. Not an empty space. Selling your home without any furniture whatsoever will just make it harder to sell your home, so consider buying or renting furniture. I’ve had first-hand experience putting my own home up for sale in December when the market was really slow. People were focused on holiday shopping and partying and were not looking at properties for sale. There was a similar 2-bedroom condo for sale in the same floor of the same building where my wife and I were selling that had been listed for over a month. And then right after we’d put our home up for sale and did an open house, we received an offer from a buyer immediately. Why did the buyer choose our condo over the other one that had been listed for several weeks without any bites? Our place had been carefully staged (see picture below) and made to look cozy and inviting while the other home in our building was being sold completely empty, making it seem forlorn. I’ve seen this happen many times with my other clients who put their staged condo on the market and got it sold in mere days. The takeaway? Don’t sell your house devoid of any furniture. Rent or buy some nice furniture and accessories to increase the attractiveness factor of your home. You can always sell them or re-use the furniture that you purchased in your next home. Better yet, hire the services of a professional interior designer to pick furniture and accessories that will enhance the look and feel of your space, rather than taking chances by acting as your own decorator and hoping you’ll get an offer based on your own amateur efforts.
3. Make your home look as good on the outside as it does on the inside
Check out the light pink & blue house shown below on the left and compare it to the house on the right, which has been freshly painted in a green and contrasting white trim. Not only does the green house look prettier, it also has a dreamy aspect that the tired-looking pink house on the left lacks. And it certainly won’t be making buyers go “I’ve fallen in love with this home and will put in an offer immediately at an amount that is more than what the seller is asking just to make sure that I get it.” When you put your home up for sale be sure that your house’s exterior colours are eye-catching, any damaged siding or roof shingles have all been fixed, cheap looking & poorly insulated windows have been replaced, and the garden has been professionally landscaped. Hire an experienced design professional to help you address any deficiencies in and around the house and help you choose finishes, furniture, plants, and accessories to use around your space to heighten visual appeal. The first thing that potential buyers will notice before entering your home is the exterior. And if they see faded or peeling paint, a fence that’s in rough shape, a garden that’s not been well-tended, or any dilapidated outdoor furniture they will feel less motivated to buy your home. A buyer’s experience should be positive from start to finish, and they should go ‘wow’ from the minute they get out of their car, enter your home, and leave your property.
4. Avoid getting asked for a discount by making your house move-in ready
Remember that if you’re selling your home without doing any renovations to make it look current, people will be computing how much it will cost them to update your kitchen (around $ 60k - $ 100k), bathrooms ($ 20k - $ 25k each), floors ($ 15k and up), repaint walls and ceilings ($ 5k - $ 10k). Remember, if you’re not doing any cosmetic renovations yourself then your buyer will be, guaranteed. And they’ll be asking for whatever it costs (in this case around $ 100k or more) to do those much-needed home improvements in discount. Unrenovated homes tend to sell a lot less quickly - and at a lower price point - as people are generally resistant to doing (or living through) a renovation project themselves. That goes for me as well even though I own a design-build business. If people came across a house with a very dated-looking bathroom like in the picture below, they will ask for a discount to cover the cost of fixing it up. If all your bathrooms and your kitchens looked like the one shown below and need to be refreshed, you’ll be faced with having to accept $ 100k or more off your selling price. So to avoid any price reductions - and to get a premium over what you’re asking, which is actually possible to achieve even in a slow market - do the necessary repairs or cosmetic renovations before you sell your home.
