As a home stager and interior designer in Los Angeles, I am often asked about the value of upgrading a home for sale. The Wall Street Journal recently did a story on this subject: You May Not Recoup The Entire Cost Of These Upgrades When You Sell Your Home. While I agree with the article that you may not recoup the costs of upgrades, some upgrades will help your home sell faster.
The value and wisdom of the upgrades will be reflected in the faster selling time. This results in a net savings of carrying costs (mortgage, property tax, insurance, utilities) and less stress and turmoil. The most frequently asked questions is:
Which home upgrades help make my home more attractive and therefore help it sell?
Answer: Before you put a house on the market you should consider doing the following -
- Interior Painting - unless your home was painted in the past year, you should probably repaint the interior. Avoid pure white unless your rooms are very small and very dark. Choose colors that you might see in a Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware Catalog (many paint stores will color match from a photograph or both those brands sell their own <expensive> paint). The art directors who design these catalogs are on top of color trends and know what shoppers find most appealing. Don't go too dark. A moderate to lighter color can be very charming.
- Wallpaper Removal - Very rare is the wallpaper that will appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers. Since your goal is to make your home as attractive as possible to the greatest number of buyers, the wallpaper has to go. Walls painted a single, solid color are always in style.
- Exterior Painting - Depending upon where your home is located, if the exterior hasn't been painted in 4 or 5 years, you should paint the exterior of your home. At the very least, you should paint the trim and the front door, and pressure wash the rest of the house. To select colors, drive around the neighborhood until you spot a home similar to yours that has colors that are appealing.
- Replace your carpet - If your carpet is newer (less than 5 years old) try having it professionally steam cleaned. If it still appears soiled or stained, or it is more than 5 years old, replace the carpet. You don't have to buy an expensive carpet - oftentimes just being new is good enough. Select a light neutral color - cream, tan or cafe au lait are popular colors that work with a lot of different architectural styles. Lighter colors will 'lift' the room and make it feel larger. Berber is OUT. Select a medium cut pile, preferably with no pattern.
- Replace your appliances - Even if your home is in a lower price range, home buyers today are looking for homes that look like homes they see on HGTV. Try and purchase a 'suite' of appliances (all from the same manufacturer) so all the knobs and handles match. If some of your appliances are newer, then replace the ones that are not. Stainless steel finish appliances are the most desirable finish among home buyers. Most appliance manufacturers have a lower priced line that comes in a stainless steel finish. To save some money, look for discontinued, floor models or 'scratch and dent' appliances that might have one or 2 small cosmetic flaws.
- Replace the knobs and handles on your kitchen and bathroom cabinets - This is the least expensive way to upgrade your kitchen and bathroom. Its like adding tasteful jewelry to a little black dress. Choose simple metal knobs in a finish that matches your appliances or sink faucet.
- Landscaping and Curb Appeal- Stand across the street from your home and snap a photo. What do you see? Do you see overgrown shrubs that block the front of the house or the windows? Do you see a weedy lawn that hasn't seem fertilizer and a mower for a while? Do you see a bunch of junk laying around the yard or the dreaded 'dead' car in the driveway with weeds growing up underneath? Mow your lawn. Fertilize it an water it regularly. Plant some colorful flowers along the front wall and near the front door. The drive up to your home is the first time potential buyers will see it. Make sure what they see leaves a positive impression that makes them want to go inside.
- Get a Home Staging Consultation - An experienced professional home stager will be able to provide you with a road map for preparing your home for sale. Professional home stagers can look at a home through 'buyers' eyes' and tell you exactly how to prepare your home for the market. With that home staging consultation in hand you can choose to do the work yourself, do part of the work and hire out the rest, or hire the home stager to complete everything. Most home stagers have a Rolodex full of painters, handymen, carpet installers, etc. to help you get your home in tip-top shape.
Offering a 'carpet allowance' or a 'painting allowance' won't get your home sold. Buyers have a hard time imagining a house with worn or soiled carpet and peeling paint can be the kind of home they would pay good money for. They'll reject your home and move on to the next home. There are plenty to choose from on the market right now. Make your home move in ready, and home buyers will be able to imagine themselves living there, making it their dream home.
Homes in better condition will sell faster. It is very simple. When you put your home on the market, you are entering it in a beauty contest. The best looking homes sell faster and for a better price.
*Will Upgrading a Home Help Sell It?* Copyright 2008 Michelle Minch and Moving Mountains Design. All rights reserved.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Call Michelle Minch at Moving Mountains Design Home Staging to arrange for your Comprehensive Home Staging Consultation (626)441-8975. Or visit our Los Angeles home staging portfolio to see pictures of our recently completed projects.
Michelle, another stellar post, full of practical recommendations for home sellers. Are you sure you can't move to LA? I sure could use you here :)
Lisa: You are way to nice to me:o)) Thank you.
Michelle, You made some excellent points and suggestions--I kept a lot of these things in mind while having my house restored. In case I should decide to sell, I know the money I put into it will make it sell faster and for at least as much money as I put into it. I see some of the homes for sale and flinch, the outside is awful and I wonder how many people actually want to go in!
Offering paint, carpet or flooring allowance creates a negative impression in the prospective buyers minds before they even see the home. Investing a few thousand dollars installing new products will give them several thousand more in the selling price-guaranteed!
Carole: People are often crippled by the fear of making a mistake...that they will spend money to paint or install new carpet and it won't come out looking better. I tried to create a list that will make the process a little less fear inducing. And of course, if they hire a professional home stager, they won't have to make those choices. The home stager will guide them into making choices that accentuate the positive features of the home while being respectful of the budget.
Cathy: I think a lot of buyers are also afraid that the allowance won't be enough, if they are even able to see past the work that needs to be done. And moving into a new house is stressful enough. Who wants the added stress of having to paint and recarpet. Home buyers today want to purchase a home that is move in ready. Thanks for commenting.
Michelle ~ Great points. We have been in the practice of encouraging all of our potential clients to do this type of work before we stage. We want it to be a successful sale and know that staging will not cover up these upgrades. You are right that potential buyers cannot envision it, plus we must try to keep their 'to do' list as short as possible. There are just too many homes on the market right now.
Excellent advice Michelle. Sellers think we want them to spend thousands to spruce up their homes and it just takes a little ingenuity, some elbow greese, organization...ok and a few dollars. And I agree with you, offering a credit is a waste of time. The buyers will take the credit and continue with an offer based on the condition anyway. Thanks for sharing & Greetings from Paradise.
Right on as always. I really know what you mean "why trade my dirty carpet for your dirty carpet" in a post I had written back when. It's true, buyers don't really want credits, it just reminds them they've gotten something old and worn, rather than new and pretty. Spending all that money, higher mortgage payments etc...they want to feel really GOOD about their purchase.
Michelle, what a great list of considerations for a home seller. Nicely written guidelines for them to follow. A home stager can guide the seller's through tackling projects by utilizing their contacts/resources as you mentioned, helping them prioritize projects and making selections. As you know, bringing in a stager before starting these projects can also help the seller avoid costly mistakes.
I agree 100% that offering an allowance for carpet/painting etc. is not the way to a quick sale.
Recently a Realtor in our area shared a similar study with me showing the same results. The trend has moved towards. . .major upgrading did not provide a ROI, but made the difference in the home selling or NOT. This is another area in which a stager's expertise will be helpful and save you $$.
Great post!
Michelle, I agree, offerng a credit for carpet or paint does not help. Most buyers just don't have time to fix a home up. paint and new carpet are the best way to go if outdated.
Michelle, Great post! You should tag it for re-blogging. I would love to share your wisdom! Jo
Excellent post Michelle - all very good tips. I have done many staging consultations where I have told the homeowner that they really need to repaint or change the carpet because the colours were far from neutral and/or very dated. I'm amazed at how many aren't willing to do that. Then they wonder why their home just sits and sits on the market. It's such a shame.
Michelle-
Another great post! We should make a book of Michelle's Blogs for homeowners! All points are very important, and I hope sellers will take notice :)
Extremely sound advice from a true professional.
I also agree that most homeowners are fearful of what changes to make. So... your advice to bring in a home staging professional to assist makes perfect sense.
Kathy
David: There are a lot of homes on the market right now, which means a lot of choices for buyers. They don't have to settle for a house that has paint and/or carpet issues. If a home owner wants to get their home sold quickly, condition is one of the most important factors.
Greg: That is something I hadn't considered, but yes, buyers (if they make an offer at all) will ask for the "allowance" and then still make an offer based on condition of the home. The home seller loses money twice.
Terrylynn: I remember that post. Why trade my dirty carpet for your dirty carpet, indeed! Condition is so important.
Michele: I did a consult for a client a few months back. She was planning on replacing her carpet since it was about 5 years old. But after seeing the carpet, which looked as new as the day it was installed, I told her to save her money and not replace it. She was thrilled to save the $3,000 or $4,000 it would have cost her. She was then able to put about $1,000 into landscaping and curb appeal issues, so she had a net savings of $2,000-$3,000 (minus the consultation fee) because she had called in a professional home stager.
I would never suggest someone put in a pool or add a bedroom - those are major upgrades. The upgrades on my list address condition issues which will effect the sale of a home.
Missy: Since you have experience "in the trenches", you know what you are talking about. Price and condition are the two most important factors in selling a home these days.
Jo: It is tagged for re-blogging:o)) but you have to log in to see the reblog button. Thanks!
Charlene: I'm not sure why some home sellers don't get it. The ones that do have their homes sell faster and for a better price.
Wendy: I'm glad you like the information. A book, hmmm.....
Kathy: By bringing in a professional home stager, home sellers will be assured that the changes they make and the money they spend will truly be spent wisely on upgrades that make a difference. Thanks, Kathy.
Great post Michelle! I agree that offering a credit for replacing paint or carpet is not going to have nearly the same effect as spending the money up front. Buyers want move-in ready and often can't look past what's already there.
Hi Annie: If I see yucky carpet or chipped or soiled paint, I think 'what else didn't they take care of'. And as Greg said above, sellers wind up paying twice - once in paying an allowance, and once in a lower offer due to condition. Doesn't make sense to me.
Michelle,
As always another great post. I tell my clients they will pay for these upgrades, whether it be on the front end (getting the work done prior to listing) or on the backend when buyers are mentally adding up in their heads the costs of having all those things done, which is ALWAYS more because the majority of the population has no idea what it really costs. So they either walk away or give a low ball offer. And with all the homes on the market today, most of them won't even bother to look in the first place.
It's all about making it easy to buy! New purchasers want to feel they are trading up a little, if they are going to all the effort and expense of moving. Your suggestions are tried and true, Michelle. Thanks
Wendy Casey - Surrey, BC
Wendy: I agree. And I would also add it is all about making it easy to choose your house. Don't give buyers an excuse to dismiss your house and make an offer on another.
Aloha Michelle,
Thanks for the practical advice. I'm doing some work on a investor unit that has this foil wallpaper in both bath's and the kitchen, not only does it hopelessly date the space, it was ugly for the decade it represents. Getting rid of it can only help the sell.
Peace,
As always, great information and well presented. Goes with the territory, eh?
It only helps whenthe home is priced correctly. It does make the difference in this market to have both price and appearance!
Kimo: I grew up in a house with flocked metallic wallpaper. Frightening to think of it now. Thanks for commenting and good luck with that foil wallpaper!
Mike: My goal is to help everyone to sell their home. Not too lofty a goal, hmm? Thanks for your comment.
Jim: I fully agree. Price and Condition are the two most important factor. Thank you for your comment.