If you’re planning to sell your home, it only makes sense that you’d want to get the most out of it and the most profit. Often, real estate agents will tell homeowners to focus on their kitchen and bathrooms, as these areas of the home tend to be major selling points for buyers. However, upgrades to these areas can be costly and may not be feasible.
In many cases, the upgrades are simply too time-intensive or do not offer enough return on the investment. In others, these areas of the home have already undergone a makeover, but more value is desired. The following inexpensive upgrades can provide a quick upgrade that can yield big profits.

Freshen Things Up with a Coat of Paint

Paint is a fairly inexpensive but effective way to increase the market value of your home. It’s like putting a fresh face on every surface, which greatly appeals to those bright-eyed homebuyers looking to start their new life.

If you’re tight on budget, focus on the areas that look worn first. Then move to areas that simply look dull or could use some sprucing up. Always paint the front door. Always. Freshen up scuffed or damaged skirting boards. Replace old, dated or worn fixtures like lamps, doorknobs, and door pulls to give them more appeal and a whole new look. Painting your home’s exterior can also help build value, especially if the current coat is chipped, worn, or cracked.

When choosing that perfect paint colour, steer clear of bold colours like red, pink, orange, green, or blue. Anything too drastic can be off-putting for potential buyers. It can also cause a room to feel smaller and closed-in, which can further diminish a potential buyer’s interest. Choose calm or neutral colours instead. Light pastels, beige, and light grey are among the most commonly used house-selling hues. This is an area where a painter will be able to provide excellent suggestions about current paint colour trends.

Scrape and Repaint Ceilings

Popcorn ceilings, while hated by most, are still extremely common in older houses. If your house has one and you intend to sell, remove it. Doing so will cost you very little (outside of some water, paint, supplies, and time), but potential buyers will greatly appreciate the added effort.

Give Your Home a Professional Deep Clean

Potential buyers may not realize that your blinds need cleaning, or that your ceiling fans are dirty. However, they will likely “feel” it. A clean home smells naturally fresh. It feels inviting. Cobwebs, clutter, and dust bunnies can impede this overall sense of clean when potential buyers walk through the door.

You could spend weeks, deep cleaning and attacking every nook and cranny of your house, but why not hire a professional cleaning team instead? True, it is an investment, but the return on professional cleaning services is usually well worth the cost.

Before hiring a team, conduct your due diligence. Look specifically for a company that offers specialized services for clients selling their homes. It matters. Ask, upfront, what services are included and what your total cost will be. You might grit your teeth initially, but the stress will literally melt off you when the cleaning team arrives, supplies in hand, prepared to tackle every last cleaning detail of your home.

Have your carpets professionally cleaned as well. Try as you might, you can’t do the job as well as a professional. The equipment they use is expensive and top-of-the-line. It’s designed to deep clean and remove heavy-duty stains. You’ll be amazed at how fresh your carpets look when the job is done.

Use New Window Treatments to Open Up the Space

Thick, long, or heavy curtains can make a space feel closed off and devoid of natural light. Open it up with some new window treatments. Shutters and wood blinds are usually preferable to curtains, but they can be cost-prohibitive. If curtains end up being your only option, choose lightly coloured ones. Open the curtains whenever you have viewers.

Add Some Life to the Space

Emerging science shows plantlife calms people, and calmness can help a potential buyer feel welcome and at home in your space. As a result, they’ll be less likely to balk at your asking price.
Bring the outdoors in with some well-placed house plants. Focus on areas of the home that feel closed off or that lack in color. If your thumb is more brown than green, choose plants that don’t need a lot of watering or care. Aloe vera plants, “spider plants,” and indoor ivy plants are all low maintenance options.

Give Your Home Some Added Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is a must when selling a home! The outside of your home is the first thing that people see, both in person and on the real estate listing. Attract more buyers and pique the interest of more viewers by sprucing up the driveway, patio, and yard.

Place vibrantly coloured potted plants by your door. Remove weeds and grass from the driveway, and then give it a deep clean. Trim bushes and hedges and add in a layer of mulch or rock. You may even want to consider adding a visually appealing mulch or gravel border or driveway path; it minimizes the work you’ll have to do in the future, and it appeals to buyers who don’t want to spend their entire weekend outdoors, maintaining a yard.

Replace or Refurbish Mirrors in Prominent Areas

While a mirror may not be a deal-breaker for most potential homebuyers, replacing or refurbishing the original builder mirror can increase interest, visual appeal, and the overall value of your home. Well placed mirrors can enhance the size of a room, reflect and bring more light in.

Give Your Kitchen an Inexpensive Makeover

It’s entirely possible to update your kitchen without doing a complete remodel. Cabinets can be painted or restained. Drawer handles and knobs can be replaced or spray painted for a fresh look. Peel-and-stick backsplashes are fairly affordable but are visually appealing. You can even give your countertop a “paint job” with either concrete or a marble paint kit. Both options can produce stunning results.

Replacing worn taps can be an inexpensive upgrade that will lift the tone of the kitchen as well as bring an updated feel to the areas. Outdated kitchen appliances such as dishwashers, range hoods can be replaced inexpensively by sourcing appliances from outlet stores, gumtree and discount stores. A cheaper brand ‘new appliance’ is preferable to an expensive old appliance that is falling apart.

Final Thoughts and Advice

1. Staging a home for sale doesn’t necessarily mean spending a lot of money. There are countless things homeowners can do themselves. Sometimes it’s simply decluttering and moving around furniture. While other times it might cost a little bit of money to add plants or window treatments.

2. Regardless of a home’s size creating a backyard oasis will always add value. This added value may not be in monetary form, but it could increase the odds of receiving an offer for top dollar. Buyers want space and by creating a backyard oasis that’s one more space they can sit back and relax.

3. Repurposing furniture is a great way to give your home a fresh look without breaking the bank. Recovering furniture and painting tables are some of the most popular ways homeowners give their home a new look.

As part of DUET’s concierge service, we offer all of our clients a free consultation with our Home Preparation team. Their 2-hour consultation is free of charge and gives you a well thought out action plan to add value to your home for the least amount of cost.

Our team can advise you on all aspects of the makeover and even source and conduct all the work for you. Allowing you to focus on what’s most important.