So you have decided that the time is right to sell your home in the Oro Valley, Marana or Tucson area? There are several things you can do beside cleaning, packing away items and staging to make your home more attractive to potential buyers- netting you a faster sale and possibly more money.
Let’s look to the kitchen first. If you have wood cabinets that look like they have really been through the mill, cleaning them with a wood cleaner like Murphy’s Oil Soap and then applying a good wood oil or product like Scott’s Liquid Gold (I have found it at Ace Hardware before) can definitely help. Even better— take the time to have them painted or stained (or make a DIY project out of it- check our Pinterest Board on cabinet rehabs for more). Just be judicious in the color choices for cabinetry, please! Neutrals are best. If you kitchen faucet is crusty be sure remove the scaling as best as you can with something like CLR (can get it at most hardware stores) or replace it. Swapping out the old 80’s and 90’s brass-look candelabra chandeliers, “builder’ special” white can lights, and “Hollywood” bath lighting that are so common here for updated and attractive lighting can really make a huge difference. You can update a kitchen, dining area and bath lighting for under a few hundred dollars—or if your budget won’t allow it, removing the fixture and carefully spraying with a high heat compatible spray paint will definitely help. It really can give a more “updated” first impression to a buyer, which is certainly better than turning them off upon entry with twenty -year -old cheap fixtures.
Another huge difference can be made with paint, especially if yours is dingy, all white, or dominated by super bright colors. For real estate purposes, our professional photographer has told me that muted neutrals (but not plain white!) are the best for getting excellent photo shots. Think beiges, tans, sands, grieges,creams- but a fun feature wall with a more dramatic color can certainly work in certain spaces. Please always paint doors and baseboards a bright white— I went into a property once where the seller had painted all of his baseboards hunter green and it looked like the very devil. My buyers thought so too, and added that to the list of reasons why they did not want to pay top dollar for the home. They ended up getting a great deal on the house but probably would have offered a little more had everything been freshly painted and clean. While I am on that subject—if you have carpets that are not looking pristine—get them professionally cleaned. Carpet and tile cleaning companies often run specials and offer coupons, so keep your eyes out. If you need recommendations for carpet and tile cleaners, window washers etc., please just reach out anytime. We can share the companies that we, as well as our clients, have had great luck with in the past.
Curb appeal is important—you never want a buyer to get turned off before they even see the inside of your home! Outside, if your gravel looks bare in spots or very thin, you can have a ton or two of rock delivered to freshen it up pretty inexpensively. If your front door is scuffed up— paint it. In addition, cleaning or replacing the front door handle if it is a disaster is also a great idea. Today there are great spray paints for metal — maybe a flat black to go over a scuffed 25 year old goldtone handle? Have your A/ C serviced and replace the filter- a unit with deferred maintenance is a frequent deal killer at inspection time, especially in the Arizona summer. Make sure to continue to replace the filter often during the listing. The main goal in preparing your property for listing is to utilize inexpensive or free options that will help generate a higher and/or quicker offer.
*You might also like this post that has more tips on getting ready to sell!
After you have selected The Property Aces Team to list your home, we will set up a separate appointment where we can go through the home room by room and make suggestions, as well as assisting you in staging your home for selling. In addition, you will receive an “Emergency Home Showing” checklist that you can use when your home is being shown on short notice. Going the extra mile for you is business as usual for us- and we can’t wait to make you our next thrilled client!
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