How to Make Your Home More Attractive to Buyers
If you’re getting your home ready to sell, you’re probably a little overwhelmed with all the tasks you need to complete. If you’ve questioned whether your home is really ready to sell or wondered what people are really looking for in a home, make sure to keep reading—we’re about to delve into how to make your home more attractive to buyers. Doing a major overhaul isn’t always possible, so we’ve listed a few different projects—big and small—that will help your home appeal to a wide range of buyers. Check out our top tips below.
Exterior
Improve Curb Appeal
Curb appeal is essential to selling your home, and you’ll want to take care of a few exterior tasks before the first prospective buyer comes along. This involves more than just creating a welcoming entryway—you should fill any cracks or potholes in your driveway, update the paint on your garage doors, and ensure a pristine lawn. If you wow homebuyers at their first glance, you’ll have a much higher chance of receiving an offer.
Curb appeal tip: Make sure your garage door aesthetically aligns with your entryway—think about painting it the same color as your home’s front door.
Opt for Neutral Siding
In the same vein, some houses will clearly sell better than others on the market. In fact, greige homes sell better than more colorful homes. For example, a home with pink siding won’t sell as fast or for as much money as a home with gray-beige siding. The more neutral your siding, the better chance you have of someone seeing your property as their future home. If you have the funds, think about switching to tan, white, dark blue, or greige siding—it’ll make a difference.
Siding tip: If you can’t update the entire exterior, add as many neutral touches as possible—a neutral door, neutral trim, et cetera.
Interior
Get Rid of Clutter
Before you start your interior projects, you’ll need to declutter the home. Doing so will make your projects easier to accomplish; plus, having a lot of clutter in the home isn’t great for selling. The less personal effects in a home, the better—if buyers feel like they’re walking into your personal space, they won’t be able to envision the home as their own. Get rid of clutter now!
Clutter tip: Go through each room in the house with four boxes labeled “keep,” “throw away,” “donate,” and “store” as you get rid of the clutter.
Update Paint in Each Room
Now comes the big project for the inside of your home: painting. Some people get overwhelmed at the idea of repainting the walls in their homes, but it can actually be quite fun. In fact, this is one of our most important tips for how to make your home more attractive to buyers. Make sure you follow the proper painting techniques—filling holes, sanding, and priming—and do your best to do it right. More and more people are vying for sustainable homes as well, so using air-purifying paints to improve the indoor air quality is a great idea.
If selling is only in the back of your mind, updating the paint in your home is still a good idea, especially for the rooms you spend a lot of time in: the kitchen, living room, and bathrooms. You don’t necessarily need to stick to neutrals within the home; you can add a bit of personality with paint colors here.
Painting tip: Don’t forget about painting the trim and the ceilings. If you like your current paint job but want to use a more eco-conscious paint, turn to ECOS Paints and our custom color matching service!
Make Minor Repairs
Prospective buyers tend to get nitpicky, so you need to take care of any minor repairs before they show up: fix any tile cracks, broken door handles, torn window screens, and squeaky doors.
Minor repairs tip: When you find, see, or hear things you need to fix, make note of them right away and fix them as soon as possible. Completing these repairs right away is better than second-guessing yourself later on.
Restain Wood
If you notice that your wood floor, cabinets, or other wood accents aren’t looking in the best shape, then it’s time to re-stain them. Buyers will look closely at all these aspects—if they’re in good shape, then that means less work on the buyer’s part, which in turn means they’ll be even more likely to buy. Update the wood stains on all furniture and flooring if necessary—it’ll give your home a fresh look that prospective buyers will love.
Wood staining tip: Before you hit the floors with our eco-friendly, odorless wood stain or varnish, start with our wood conditioner to ensure the stain lasts. This a great tip to remember when you’re moving into your new place as well!
Emphasize Comfort Throughout the Home
This tip is less of a project and more of a feeling. If buyers walk through your home and feel that it’s dirty or cramped, then they’re not going to feel as comfortable purchasing your home. You need to emphasize comfort throughout the home. Comfort is different for every person, but there are some general ways to give the space a relaxed feel. Choose soothing accent colors such as pale blues and soft greens; clean all surfaces; and get rid of any pet hair. Make your house feel as luxurious as possible!
Comfort tip: Furniture and accessories play a big role in comfort, so do your best to choose the right décor to showcase the luxurious nature of your home.
There are a lot of things you need to do to get your home ready, but when you follow these steps, you’re that much closer to a “sold” sign on your lawn. When it comes to your old home and your new one, make sure to turn to ECOS Paints for all your painting, staining, and color needs. We’re the best choice for low-VOC paints, primers, nursery paints, exterior paints, interior paints, and more. Make the right choice for your air quality and for your properties by reaching out to us—you won’t regret it. Shop our paints now!