Guest Author - Kathy Clark

When it comes time to sell your home, don’t we all take a good look around the place we’ve lived and see things that we hadn’t for a long time? Of course everyone wants to squeeze as much out of their home as possible when they put it on the market.

Unfortunately, big items don’t pay off the way one would expect. In reality, it’s the little things that will bring in the asking price.

Walk around your home taking notes on details such as lighting fixtures, hardware and especially the condition of the paint. Take a walk outside and survey the landscaping. Don’t forget to critique the back yard also.

Maybe you’ve always thought expanding the kitchen would make for a better home, but when you’re in the process of putting your home on the market, it’s not the time to think big and grand.

Pick out neutral colored paint, call your friends and family together then have a painting party! Splash all the walls, doors and baseboards with fresh paint. Replace old or dated hardware. Have your carpets cleaned. Get out your work gloves and get outside. Fertilize the lawn, prune the shrubs, toss in new bedding plants or just rid the beds of stray weeds. You’ll feel better and actually like the results.

Of course if the roof really needs to be replaced, you have no choice but to acknowledge that large expense and call in a roofer. For the most part, improving your home to sell and bring in a comparable price, all that is necessary is taking care of tasks that are acceptable to you, but maybe not necessarily be acceptable to a possible buyer.

Another consideration is to make sure all bathrooms are in the same state of updating. If you have remodeled one, it’s best to go ahead and remodel the others. Try to obtain balance throughout the house so that buyers don’t find the house wonderful until they step into an old, out of date bathroom that tells them they have some work to do in order to achieve balance.