So, you’re thinking about selling your home – and everyone knows that to sell a house, it needs to be visually appealing. Does that mean you need to renovate your entire property, though? This is a point of contention, and there’s no single right answer. Rather, as you prepare to sell your home, you’ll need to evaluate a number of factors to determine whether your home will be market-ready with just a few simple improvements and some smart staging, or if it’s time to start tearing down walls.
Compare And Contrast
As you prepare to sell your home, one factor you’ll want to consider is how up-to-date your home is. Does your property boast trendy features, or is it several decades out of date with fixtures, wallpaper, and other elements that will make it look like it came out of a vintage catalog?
Outdated homes may find their perfect buyer or someone willing to put in the work. However, you’ll need to have the patience to sit with it on the market longer than average or take a lower sales price because there won’t be nearly as much demand.
Don’t Stage It Yourself
One common problem homeowners encounter when deciding whether to renovate their property in advance of a sale stems from a poor understanding of staging. Staging is how you set up your home for photographs and viewings. The ideally staged home is very plain, anonymized, and sparse; for example, it should still have an appropriate amount of furniture, but your family photos should disappear.
Experienced real estate agents can work wonders during the staging process, making your home a beautiful, blank slate for prospective buyers. Just don’t stage it yourself because, like anything else, it’s an acquired skill.
Know Your Returns
Many tasks might fall under the heading of “renovation” that are standard for any home sale, such as applying a new coat of paint. For anything more extensive than that, though, you’ll want to weigh the pros and cons and consider the cost. Almost every renovation costs more to perform than it will earn you back, so look at what upgrades you’re considering and evaluate the financial issues at play. Will the cost of performing the repair be worth its relative impact on the sales process?
Flipping Isn’t All Its Cracked Up To Be
If your home needs a lot of repairs, or if you’ve found yourself in the position of selling an old family home that’s no longer looking its best, you may discover that you’re between a rock and a hard place.
That’s because flipping a house is hard work, and most people don’t understand what goes into a full-scale renovation. Though there will always be a few determined investors poking around, you’ll either have to give up a lot of value or spend a lot of money.
The average home doesn’t need a full renovation to go on the market, but most need at least a handful of improvements, and every home needs to be staged. Spend some time researching the market you’re in, the costs associated with potential home improvements, and other concerns, then make the call.
People have different priorities and abilities when preparing to sell a property, and you need to account for those issues as you move through this challenging process.
