Guest Author - Donna Coogan

Home improvements are vital considerations to selling a house in a buyer’s market. With so many homes on the market today the chances of selling quickly are not as promising as many homeowners hope. You can help change the market in your favor by making some simple improvements in your home that creates a dramatic difference in how others view it.

One thing you have to remember is to not look at your house the way you have always seen it living there day in and day out. Look at your house as a potential buyer. Grab some pen and paper and go outside and stare at your house from the street. Does it look inviting? Does it have “curb appeal”? Is the entrance welcoming? Would you look forward to making a trip inside or would you just keep on driving? Write down any problems that you immediately see.

Next walk around your house. Study everything from the shutters, roofing, gutters, and even foundation. Keep two columns: Minor Repairs and Major Repairs. Fix up the minor problems immediately. Nail down any loose shingles, clean out the gutters, straighten crooked shutters, replace any missing siding pieces and give your front and back doors a fresh coat of paint or stain.

Go inside your house. How does the foyer greet you? Walk through each room of your home. Again, jot down all problems from minor to major. Pay attention to cleanliness, clutter and smells. A house that doesn’t look, feel and smell clean will scare every potential buyer away in a heartbeat.

Box up all your clutter, rent a storage unit and deposit everything there. It’s okay to leave some decorative objects and even personal family photographs out. You want the house to feel like a home that is comfortable for you and also one where a buyer could envision being comfortable to live among their things.

Next attack the minor repairs. Patch holes in your wall, install missing trim, replace broken door handles or latches. Act as if you are a home inspector and examine every nook and cranny. Open and close all your windows checking for any that are stuck or have broken screens, look inside your kitchen and bathroom cabinets for leaks and signs of mildew, test every indoor and outdoor light switch and make sure they all work.

Once the clutter is gone and the minor repairs are made scrub your house until it shines. This includes the walls, floors, baseboard trim, window wells, ceiling fan blades, and of course the bathrooms and kitchen. You don’t want to have any sign of dust, dirt or grime. Please don’t forget to move animal dishes and litter boxes out of sight.

Check out your walls – do they need a fresh coat of paint? Don’t paint them all white as that will leave too blank a canvas that feels like a stark museum, not a home. Choose a neutral taupe, light stone or even pale yellow with plenty of white trim. White trim always gives a home fresh, clean appeal.

If your carpeting is old, badly stained or smells from a dozen pet accidents you have to replace it. Don’t even think about trying to sell a house with a worn out, soiled carpet. Even promising that you will provide a carpet allowance will not draw buyers. It’s like walking around on someone’s dirty laundry. It has to go.

The same approach must be taken with kitchens and bathrooms. Everything must be spotless. If the shower tiles are black with mold or there is leakage around the toilet, every buyer will assume you have major plumbing problems going on. You have to clean up all water stains and signs of mildew.

Keep in mind that major repairs should be tackled, too, and worth hiring a professional to handle for you. Any improvement you make, whether minor or major, is the goal you should aim for in preparing your house for sale.

Finally, get someone whose opinion you trust to walk around and through your house with their own pen and paper in hand. Don’t go with them - let them be free to wander about themselves and really get a sense of your home environment. Do they see, smell or “feel” anything that is a turn-off? Be open to their suggestions and add these to your “improvement” list.

Remember that selling your house is like selling yourself on a job interview. You would never show up in a dirty, wrinkled, torn suit, but in one freshly pressed from the cleaners. Appearances make all the difference. If a buyer sees your pride in ownership doesn’t extend to taking care of even minor repairs, then they will never trust that the whole house isn’t falling apart behind the scenes.

In a market where buyers might be visiting half a dozen homes every weekend, you want to make every effort for them to linger and seriously consider making an offer on yours. Tackle those home improvements with gusto, knowing the effort will pay off in the end.