Residential: 7 tips for getting your house ready for the spring market
With spring just around the corner, here is some expert advice on how to successfully spruce up your home and get it ready for the spring market.
1. Take care of any repairs
If you know something needs to be fixed, get it done before any buyers enter your home. To get top dollar, make sure your home does not look like a renovation project to a homebuyer and run a basic pre-spring check (replace rotten soffits, rotten wood on the exterior, facia or window trim).
2. Bigger issues? Get a pre-inspection done
Get a home inspector who can do a quick four-point inspection of your home to assess major issues like water intrusion or rodent activity.
3. Demonstrate purpose in every room
Make sure every room has a purposeful design. Turn a bonus room into a playroom or office space. Defining a use for all sections of your home helps buyers see more value.
4. Clean and declutter
To make your space look larger and inviting, declutter closets and storage areas to the bare minimum, move boxes to the garage, and make sure that your garage is neatly organized too.
5. Paint … and repaint
Small cosmetic changes, inside or outside, can significantly upgrade your property. Fixing wear and tear signs, replacing old wallpaper that dates the house, or adding a fresh coat of paint on the trim outside helps display your home as move-in ready for most buyers.
6. Enhance curb appeal
View your home from the street and inspect what could be done to brighten up the front of your house. Could you add more definition? Would the addition of shutters or windowsill planters make your house more welcoming and let it stand out? Sometimes it is as simple as raking and cleaning up your lawn from debris, adding fresh mulch, pressure washing or just painting the front door – all easy improvements that can go a long way!
7. Talk to a realtor
Hire a real estate broker that you are comfortable with and ask them to walk through your property and identify things that can be done to help the sale and boost pricing.
