Not As Much As You May Think
One of the first questions sellers ask me is, “What do I need to fix before selling?”
After more than 27 years in real estate, I’ve learned that the answer usually isn’t “everything.”
In fact, one of my most important home selling tips is this: Before you start spending money, figure out which things will actually affect a buyer’s impression of your home.
You probably don’t need a brand-new kitchen. You may not need new flooring throughout the house. And that bathroom you’ve been wanting to remodel for ten years? It might be perfectly fine.
The goal isn’t to make your house perfect. It’s to make buyers feel comfortable buying it.
Start With Someone Who Will Tell You the Truth
Here’s an exercise I recommend before you prepare your home for the market.
Ask someone who doesn’t spend much time in your house to come over and walk through the front door as though they were a buyer.
Don’t give them the tour. Don’t explain what you’ve updated. And definitely don’t tell them what they’re supposed to like.
Just let them walk through.
Then ask them three questions:
What did you notice first?
What did the house smell like?
How did the house feel?
And here’s the hard part.
Don’t defend your house. Just listen.
Sometimes the truth will hurt.
They might tell you the room feels dark. They might notice clutter you stopped noticing years ago. They might think a wall color is distracting. Or they may smell the dog, cat, last night’s dinner or something else you’ve become completely accustomed to.
That’s useful information.
A buyer probably won’t tell you any of those things. They’ll simply form an impression.
We Had to Take Our Own Advice
When Lisa and I recently prepared our own house for sale, we had to look at it the same way.
We love our animals. Anyone who knows us knows that.
But our cats had perches. The dogs had their things. There were bowls, beds, toys and all the other stuff that comes with sharing a house with pets.
We removed those items for photographs and showings.
Why?
Because buyers weren’t coming to see how our family lived in the house. They were trying to picture their family living there.
That doesn’t mean you need to erase every sign that you have a personality. A few family photographs are fine. A house should still feel like a home.
But walls covered with family pictures, pet items in every room (guilty as charged) and very personal decorating choices can make it harder for someone else to imagine the house as theirs.
You aren’t trying to hide the fact that you have pets. You’re simply removing distractions from the house you’re trying to sell.
Fix Things That Create Doubt
Once you’ve looked at the house through someone else’s eyes, it’s time to decide what to fix before selling.
This is where I generally tell sellers to focus first on deferred maintenance.
A little peeling paint may not cost much to repair. Neither does a loose gutter, a dripping faucet or a piece of damaged trim.
But when buyers see several small maintenance issues together, something else happens.
They start wondering:
“If I can see these problems, what can’t I see?”
That’s the bigger issue.
Things like wood rot, active leaks, moisture problems, damaged siding, obvious electrical issues, HVAC problems and other visible maintenance concerns deserve attention.
Not because every house needs to be perfect, but because a well-maintained house gives buyers confidence.
Repairs and Improvements Are Not the Same Thing
This is where sellers can spend a lot of money unnecessarily.
Repairing a rotted piece of siding is maintenance.
Replacing perfectly good countertops because you don’t think buyers will like the color is an improvement.
Those are two very different decisions.
Before you replace countertops, renovate a bathroom, install new flooring or spend thousands updating a kitchen, stop and ask whether you’re likely to get that money back.
Sometimes you will. Sometimes you won’t.
And sometimes the next buyer will walk into the beautiful kitchen you just spent $30,000 renovating and say, “I wish they had used different cabinets.”
That’s why good home selling tips aren’t always about what you should do. Sometimes the best advice is knowing what not to do.
Clean, Bright and Well Maintained Goes a Long Way
When you prepare your home for sale, don’t underestimate the basics.
A clean house matters.
Clean windows matter.
Fresh-smelling rooms matter.
Working light bulbs matter.
Removing excess furniture matters.
Opening curtains and letting natural light into the house matters.
Curb appeal matters.
Door colors, neatly trimmed shrubs, a fresh layer of mulch will get buyers in the door.
None of those things require a major renovation.
You’re trying to create a feeling when someone walks through the door:
This house has been taken care of. I could live here.
That’s much more important than trying to make every room look like it came out of a magazine.
Before You Spend Money, Have a Plan
If you’re wondering what to fix before selling, don’t start at the home improvement store.
Start with a plan.
Figure out what buyers are likely to notice, address deferred maintenance, reduce distractions and then decide whether larger improvements actually make financial sense.
After decades of helping people buy and sell homes, I’ve watched sellers spend money they didn’t need to spend. I’ve also seen relatively inexpensive repairs and preparation completely change the way buyers responded to a house.
Sometimes you need to do more than you thought.
Sometimes you need to do much less.
The important thing is knowing the difference.
Mark Adams
Mark Adams & Associates | eXp Realty
804-237-8585
office@markadamsteam.com
Realtors by Day, Dog Lovers 24/7
Leave a comment