How you can increase the value of your house in this market

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Nov 30 2009 | 3 Comments

Selling a home right now is an adventure in itself. There aren’t a lot of  properties moving in some areas, and in others…they are. There are still ways to get the most for your house even now though…and many of these tips are tried and true ways to get a good price for your home.

First of all, make sure your house is clean. Some buyers like to see a fully furnished house; some prefer to see a house that is bare. No matter how they feel about it, they will always agree that a clean house is what they REALLY want to see. It is extremely difficult to overlook stinky garbage and dirty floors. From experience, when I was looking at homes to purchase, there was a neighborhood right next to the college I was attending and the houses were definitely in our price range. However, most of the homes we walked into looked like they hosted an entire fraternity or some kind of natural disaster had struck them.  This image never left my mind as we looked through the neighborhood; we actually ended up moving to a much quieter neighborhood 8 miles from campus.

Keeping your house clean isn’t limited to the inside. Curb appeal is very important and making sure that your lawn is groomed properly will not only attract more buyers, but will add a bit of value to your home. If buyers consider your lawn a bit more low maintenance (and less of a headache) than a weed-ridden lawn then you may be able to get a bit more money for your house.

It wouldn’t hurt to have someone inspect your home before you put it on the market. If you do this, then the inspector will find all the little things (and big things) that may be wrong with your house and you can fix them before any potential buyers’ inspectors come along and find them. A buyer will ask for whatever the cost of repair is off the price of the house (and usually a lot more) so it is just cheaper in the long run to fix the issues.

Make sure that you stay in line with other homes in your neighborhood. If your house is priced $20,000 more than all the other houses in your neighborhood because you feel like you should be getting some return on those granite countertops and stainless steel appliances you put in your house, then you likely won’t sell your house. The buyers that will be canvasing your neighborhood will look in what they consider their price range and $20,000 on a $130,000 home is a lot of money. You really want to stay in line with what is standard in your neighborhood if you were planning on upgrading anything in your home.

Finally, one of the newer ways to increase the value of your home is to make some “green” improvements. Everyone is looking for greener ways to live these days and typically when something is already put in place that is environmentally friendly, then it will save the buyers money in the future. So, you’ll also be seeing “green”  when they do.

Related posts:
Things you can do to increase the value of your house
What to ask when picking a selling agent for real estate.
Housing Prices See an Increase In the DC Area

Tags: neighborhood, headache, curb appeal