Painting when selling a home provides a whooping 148 percent return on investment with dramatic results and little investment.
Repair any damaged interior walls by patching all chips, cracks, dents, dings and holes; then touch up or repaint interior walls with neutral color. Wanna know the priority rooms? Read on…
Home staging if done correctly can provide a return on investment of 251%. Stage your home for showings and marketing photos by freshening a space, cleaning and de-cluttering, adding art, greenery, lighting and staging or renting furniture.
Remember the cost of home staging is always less than your first price reduction, which comes in the way of longer time on market and low offers.
Perception is everything when it comes to marketing a home for sale. The goal is to highlight strengths and to downplay home weaknesses. Dressing a house for success will appeal to a broader range of potential buyers.
Dirty homes feel gloomy, are overwhelming and depressive. Cleaning a home of fingerprints, dirt, grime, stray hairs and personal care items will make those that view your property have a positive feelings. There is just something about the thought of taking a bath in another’s dirty tub, or sleeping in a room strewn with dirty clothes and cooking in a kitchen with grimy, greasy cabinets and appliances, yuk what a turn off.
Art is used in home staging to create visual interest. Staging artwork is different than personal art collections that are purchased to inspire memories and are personal in nature. Staging artwork entices home buyers, by creating style, adding color, distracting a view of negative features, highlighting architecture, focal points, providing the illusion of bigger, smaller, wider, taller and adding excitement to a space.
Home staging existing furniture or renting furniture and placing into pleasing arrangements and vignettes, help a home appear functional, spacious and welcoming.
Another part of proper placement of furniture is improving traffic flow, drawing the eye to architectural attributes, hiding flaws and creating balance within a room.
Although much of a buying decision is already predetermined like location, or size of home. Home staging can assist with curb appeal and homey characteristics of a home listing.
Studies have revealed that buyers first impressions of a home’s interior are:
Cleanliness, Clutter and Odor 35%
Decor 21%
Condition & Lighting 16%
Floor Plan 15%
Rooms 13%.
72% of home buyer’s first impressions and feelings can be controlled by the seller with the use of effective home staging.
Updating Electrical In a House, ranks up high on the list as updating plumbing. In 2010 HomeGain did a survey of 1000 agents throughout the United States, the survey revealed that 89% of agents nationwide agreed that updating electrical in a home could increase the homes value up to $1500.
Home buyers assume that it costs much more to fix broken items than it actually does. The perception of broken electrical out weighs the real repair costs in price reductions or low offers.
Mentally when a switch is turned on and doesn’t work the homebuyer will start calculating the cost of repairs, which in turn makes a reduction in the offering price. The reductions are almost far greater of the actual cost of the repair.
Should you have some broken switches and outlets, by all means replace them. Older homes that blow fuses are not only inconvenient but may be a safety issue as well.
For some odd reason items that I find often when providing home staging consultations are broken doorbell buttons, broken switch plates and burnt out light bulbs. Another item that has nothing to do with the working order of the electrical system are decorative switch plates, which I recommend being replaced with the good old average, boring switch plates.
If new homes and competing homes in the same price range have updated their electrical, to compete in the same price range you will have to make the necessary electrical updates or suffer the consequences of reduced offers or lingering on the market with price reductions.
The return on investment for plumbing will vary from year to year and market to market. The importance of selecting faucet finish and style for your plumbing fixtures will add to your return on investment and increase your bottom line when it come times to sell your home.
As mentioned in my article about top 27 return on investments, updating plumbing depending on market can provide a 260% return on investment on average when selling a home.
Lighting size, placement and trends both inside and out when preparing your home for sale reaps one of the greatest returns on investments. Simple lighting improvements can be as easy as washing windows inside and out and replacing spent light bulbs. Othertimes you will need to make updates to compete with new and model homes in the same price range.
Refreshing the look of a room can be done by replacing old, dated light fixtures and ornately decorated fixtures that may not appeal to the broadest range of buyers. I typically recommend when providing home staging consultations that home sellers keep it simple and select lighting in a transitional style, which is neither traditional nor contemporary.
The great thing about transitional style is that it will give you a great updated look in a contemporary setting or a traditional interior setting. As for finishes, transitional styles are flexible allowing you to mix finishes with existing hardware, but if you want to match your finishes to your faucets and hardward, go right ahead.
According to the National Kitchen and Bath Association consumers are looking for contemporary spa like easy to clean bathrooms and kitchens with less clutter and clean simple lines, with LED lighting cited as an “in-demand” kitchen feature for its energy efficiency (which is another hot buyer preference).
Knowing what lighting size, placement and trends when you are updating your home for sale will help you obtain a greater return on investment. Keep these simple home staging tricks handy as a practical solution for any home interiors lighting updates and you won’t go wrong.
Consumers love out door living and revamping garden areas, patios and porches can make your curb appeal really “shine”. This will be the first impression buyers will have of your home.
Pendant lighting in 2015 will take on the shapes of bowl pendants and drums (like the one above).
Chandeliers aren’t just for the dining room anymore and are making their way into spaces like studio apartments, attic bedrooms and small mother-in-law suites. The luxury market demands, dramatic, upscale and extravagant transitional crystal chandeliers.
Power in the shower continues its popularity as we head into 2015.
Silver, Chrome and Stainless steel have commonly been used in the kitchen but warm metals like gold, copper and bronze are the trend for 2015.
Image Courtesty Decor Pad
Image Courtesy KitchenModel.org
Image Courtesy Houzz
Lighting placement, size and how high you hang your lighting play an important role in the over all look and feel of a space.
Image Courtesty EHow
Image Courtesty New England Home
Image Courtesty Crisp Architects
Sometimes your lampshade may be all that is needed to get an updated look. Follow these rules when updating your table lamp shades.
