De-cluttering Your House

Published by julia | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Market Trends, Miscellaneous, Real Estate

Most sellers know of some repairs that need to be made to their home and a lot of sellers have many items on that list, but not all repairs or rather, not all home improvements rank high in the buyer’s mind.

Finding out which repairs will help you sell your home helps you create a solid list to work on. A recent study focused to take the guess-work out of where to spend your repair dollars. According to the study, the top four areas to focus on are: clean and de-clutter , lighten and brighten, stage the home, and landscape the yard.

The Return on Investment depends on the repair and, in some cases, which part of the country you live in.

The study breaks down the ROI for the top four repairs. Cleaning and decluttering can create a 578 percent ROI. The ROI for staging a home was 340 percent. Landscaping the yard, brought in a 415 percent ROI. According to the survey, each of these repairs range in cost from a few to several hundred dollars but can return thousands in profit to the seller.

Rounding out the study’s top-ten list of repairs are: Repair electrical or plumbing problems, replace or shampoo carpeting, paint interior walls, paint exterior walls, repair damaged flooring, update kitchen and bathrooms.

A top mistake was discovered to be covering up or neglecting care of the floors. A key strategy for staging a home is to lift up the carpets and show off those nice floors — give them a quick shine and clean them up first.

When you make the above repairs costing approximately $5,000 - $8,000, The study states that prices, for example, on a three bedroom, two bathroom home can result in price increases as high as $23,532 to $20,279.

With homes sitting on the market longer, homeowners should do everything they possibly can to sell  their home quickly and at a price they expect.