You want your home to look its best for presenting and listing. The easy, free, and obvious start is the removal of all clutter and cleaning up the interior and exterior of the property. But many home sellers or renters stop there when much more could be done to improve the presentation value of your home at little to no cost.

Here are some practical and affordable home improvements that will raise the value of your home listing and reduce time on the market:

Start with a Plan

The property will serve as a reflection of the seller, landlord, or property manager as well as buyer or renter expectations and aspirations. Just as you wouldn’t want to market a rundown, cluttered old house, would-be buyers or tenants don’t want to commit to a property that has been lazily or hastily maintained. Simple measures can be taken to ensure your property looks its best to draw the ideal tenants or buyers.

Start with setting a plan for improvement. This can include anything from rearranging furniture before photography, making small repairs, or adding decorative flairs that will make the property stand out.

A formal inspection will help you ascertain exactly what needs to be done on the property. Since a buyer will have the property inspected anyway, it is best to have everything functioning and appearing exactly the way you would want to maximize the value of your home or rental. Those little maintenance tasks you may have been putting off could become a costly problem later, so it is best to resolve minor issues now.

Exterior

• Keep the lawn mowed and neat

• Ensure irrigation works and eliminate dead spots on grass

• Clean and restore flowerbeds

• Trim hedges and trees

• Smooth and repair uneven pavement

• Replace missing shingles on the roof

• Clean out gutters

• Caulk around windows

• Maintain or repair porch and patio hardware and furniture

• Paint wherever possible. Focus on often-seen areas like porches, front steps, and trim. Maintain a neutral color for a neat and consistent modern look that prospective tenants and buyers can see themselves enjoying and personalizing.

Interior

What interior updates are the most practical? While fresh carpet, paint, and appliances are all great selling points, replacing these items may not be affordable. Instead, consider more cost effective options that can make your home look like new:

• Focus repainting or touch ups on living areas the family and guests will spend the most time in

• Replace carpet too worn or stained for professional cleaning to resolve

• Consider professional carpet stretching to remove buckling

• Have carpet professionally cleaned

• Touch-up any holes in walls and faded areas

• Give baseboards and moldings a fresh coat of paint, if possible

• Touch-up doors and windowsills, repainting if possible

• Check ceilings for damage and repair or repaint where needed

• Touch-up or refinish cabinets, replacing nobs and handles.

Any of these repairs and improvements will help make your home listing stand out. While complete renovations and remodels are not recommended—chances are they won’t be exactly what the potential buyer wants anyway—these minor updates will make your home a much more presentable, livable space. What you might have spent in completing these improvements could easily make its way back to you in less time the home spends on the market or an increase in sale price.

For questions about increasing your home value and marketing your listing, contact 208.properties today.