Adding Value

Which items will add value to your home and help with resale when the time comes to sell?

As a general rule, choosing the functional over the merely cosmetic and choosing neutral over unusual or exotic will pay at resale. Taste and current trends can also affect the value of an update. Unusual colors have a limited appeal. If your considering selling your home here are some items that can boost your resale value.

The exterior of your home often determines how buyers will view the interior, so:

  • Make sure your front entrance is clean and inviting.
  • Paint or replace your front door or shutters if they are faded or worn. 
  • Add vibrant plants and put down some fresh mulch.

Accentuate the Positive.

"How we live in a home and how we sell a home are often two different things." Try to see your home with a fresh perspective and arrange each room to bring out its best attributes, including:

  • Steam clean carpeting or replace it, if necessary. 
  • Repaint scarred or dirty walls and trim in a neutral color.
  • Repair loose knobs, sticking doors and windows, broken light switches, warped cabinet drawers and other minor flaws.
  • Check and repair caulking in bathtubs and showers.
  • Repair worn woodwork.

Try to see your home with a fresh perspective and arrange each room to bring out its best attributes, including:

  • Remove all unnecessary clutter from your attic, basement and closets to better display spacious rooms (consider storage or a garage sale to dispose of extraneous items).
  • Arrange all your rooms neatly and remove excess furniture. Keep fresh, clean towels in the bathroom. Use candles or air fresheners to make the room smell pleasant.

Strategically lighting your home, even during daytime showings, can create a cozy mood and highlight positive attributes of each room, so:

  • Avoid the use of overhead lighting that makes rooms look washed out and lifeless.
  • Be creative and arrange lamps to help smaller rooms seem larger, and large rooms seem more intimate.
  • Use lighting to highlight the "living areas" of your home, such as a pair of chairs near a fireplace, or a table in a breakfast area.