The bright red front door and light purple kitchen walls might
seem charming to you, but to a prospective home buyer, chances are
they’re just ugly. And as painful as it might be to paint over
them, it could help catapult your house’s marketability from just
OK to much more desirable.
The bright red front door and light purple kitchen walls might seem charming to you, but to a prospective home buyer, chances are they’re just ugly. And as painful as it might be to paint over them, it could help catapult your house’s marketability from just OK to much more desirable.
According to local real estate agents and home improvement experts, a fresh coat of interior paint is just the beginning of a list of things homeowners can do to make their home more appealing to buyers, and many of the ideas require more effort than they do money.
For starters, try lightening a room with paint, lamps and natural light, said Susan Jacobsen, a 30-year veteran real estate agent with Starritt Realtors in Gilroy.
“Some buyers have strange imaginations. If they see a dark room in a house, when they leave, all they can picture is that room dark. But they can’t always picture lightening it up,” she said. “All they remember is, ‘Oh, that was a really dark house,’ but the thing is, it doesn’t have to be that way.”
To leave buyers with a more favorable impression, part drapes and lift blinds to create a more natural look. In rooms with small windows or no natural light, set out simple table or floor lamps that project soft light.
Paints walls and ceilings with neutral colors, and wash windows to make sunlight appear brighter. While washing, you might come across flaws or cracks in the glass that should be repaired.
Another way to make the house seem more appealing is to keep it clean and clutter-free, said Karey Grimsley, a real estate agent with Re/Max in Hollister. When a house is clean and spacious, it’s easier for buyers to envision what they want to do with the interior decor, Grimsley said.
Kitchens and bathrooms are two main selling points of homes and should be kept as clean as possible, with everyday-use items such as dishes, toothbrushes and hairdryers tucked away in cabinets or under the sink. Towels should be hung or folded, and they shouldn’t be tired-looking or dingy.
“If there are things that need to be done to the house, such as cleaning up, it’s going to raise the price of the home in the buyer’s mind,” Jacobsen said. “They see that as just one more thing that needs to be done.”
Keep only the basics – such as a table, chairs and a bookshelf – out in the open, and make sure they’re in good condition. If furniture is dented, buyers might assume the homeowner has treated the house carelessly.
Even if you clean regularly and assume your house is spic-and-span, you could be caught in a rut and overlooking dirty spots that might stand out to a buyer, said Susan Patereau, a real estate agent with Intero Real Estate Services in Gilroy. Patereau recommended hiring a housekeeper for a one-time, thorough cleaning, and observing the housekeeper could be an enlightening experience.
“Then you can step back and look at what you’re neglecting to clean and what needs to be done,” Patereau said. “You’re not in the middle of it saying, ‘Oh, that’s good enough.'”
Also, pack up the knick-knacks, decorations and any unnecessary furniture to make the house seem more spacious. Items such as family photos and hanging pictures usually distract the buyer rather than entice them, and the décor also can make narrow or small spaces such as hallways or closets seem even smaller.
Avoid stuffing the extra items into the garage or the back patio, because buyers who are looking for storage space in their new home will be inspecting every nook and cranny. Consider renting a temporary storage space or holding a garage sale to get rid of excess items, which will make the moving process easier.
Although tending to the interior is essential, a buyer likely won’t even go inside the house if the exterior immediately turns them off, said Alan Bicho, an employee at Home Depot in Morgan Hill.
“Most customers get an attitude about buying a house within the first minute they see it,” he said. “It’s the whole idea of curb appeal. Yard maintenance, touch-up painting and planting a few flowers can make the place look more cheery.”
If you have a bigger budget, a new coat of paint on the exterior also can make a house look newer and more inviting, Bicho said. The color should be neutral and blend with other houses in the neighborhood.
While a house’s exterior often is a make-or-break for first impressions, so are the sights and smells a buyer notices when first entering the house. Cigarette smoke, pet odors, remnants of cooking with spices or overwhelming wafts of perfume, cologne or scented candles can make a buyer want to plug their nose and run out the door, Patereau said. According to her, the best solution is to open the windows and let the fresh air roll in.
“It might get a little chilly, but the good, spring air is so much better than those overpowering smells,” she said. “Even the smell of cleaning chemicals, like bleach, can turn a buyer off. It makes the buyer wonder what the homeowner is trying to cover up.”
Many buyers also notice the condition of the carpet right off the bat. If the carpet is old and worn, it might be worth your while to have it replaced, Grimsley said.
“If the carpet is dated, it can really date the house,” she said. “A sub-standard grade replacement is fine. If you get the most expensive grade, that’s not going to give you a value on returns. It just has to look fresh and clean, and be good quality.”
Grimsley said she has had clients who lay $2,000 worth of new carpet and see double that in the selling price. Although there’s no rule of thumb for determining returns on minor home-improvement investments, the efforts usually are worth it, Jacobsen said.
“You need to take objections away for the buyer,” she said. “If a buyer sees improvements that need to be made, in their mind, it’s going to cost three times more to make those improvements – and that gives them a reason not to buy the house. There’s not a dollar-for-dollar guarantee, but it does help make the house sell. And that’s the goal.”
