Traditionally speaking, mid-summer tends to be quite a quiet time of year in the real estate industry. While last summer may have been somewhat of an action-packed outlier onset by the pandemic-induced real estate frenzy, this year things are starting to look familiar.
People tend to go on holidays, paying more attention to where they’re staying rather than where they live. However, come September and early fall, movement in the real estate market begins to ramp up rapidly — especially when it comes to listings.
With that in mind, one of the best things a homeowner who’s considering a more permanent change of scenery can do before the fall season is to get ahead of the game and start preparing their home for sale now.
And, as experienced Realtors®, we know exactly what sellers should focus on in order to maximize their home’s value and earn the highest returns. Here are five ways we recommend you prepare your home for a fall sale.
There are listings, and then there are luxury listings — and sometimes the only difference is the amount of attention to detail that goes into simple design cues. Here are some ways we believe luxury is defined in 2021:
1. Complete Any Essential Repairs
While this step might not be the most glamorous, completing any necessary renovations or repairs to your home is absolutely the most lucrative task you can perform before listing it for sale.
In fact, any damage or deficiencies of your home act as the single biggest depreciator of its value when being assessed by buyers and their agents, as the cost of fixing any outstanding issues will be taken into account at the negotiations table.
Over the course of the summer, it’s easy to let a few smaller home renovation and repair projects slide, especially if they’re related to areas that aren’t as frequently used when the weather’s warmer — things like heating systems, insulation, or cold-weather storage.
However, when attempting to sell a home for its highest possible value, it’s not only essential it looks flawless but also functions flawlessly too.
Looking to maximize the market value of your home? Completing renovations and repairs is one of the best ways to do just that. For inspiration, here are 5 Luxury Upgrades That Can Add Value To Your Home.
2. Boost Your Curb Appeal
Although it might sound terribly obvious to say when potential buyers come to visit your listing, the first time they see your home in person is from the exterior — and like most things, a buyers’ first impression of your home is important to make memorable.
That’s why one of the best things you can do to prepare your home for a successful sale is to make the exterior look as enticing as possible. Or, as it’s referred to in the real estate industry, boost its curb appeal.
In the summer, maintaining a home’s beautiful exterior is relatively easy. The elements tend to work with you, so long as you remember to water your garden every once in a while. However, autumn is a different story. Leaves begin to fall, rainstorms make gardens messy, and it becomes harder to work with the outdoors.
A few preemptive tasks you can do to ensure your home’s exterior looks its best ahead of time include cleaning your gutters, getting rid of any dead or dying yard waste, touching up any damaged or chipping paint jobs, washing siding and windows, and bringing any outdoor furniture indoors.
The last thing you want is for your home to look stuck in the previous season when potential new buyers want to start imagining themselves living there in the future. If you need a hand and have the means, hiring a professional landscaping company to revitalize your outdoor spaces ahead of listing it for sale is something we also highly recommend.
The power of amazing landscaping can almost never be overstated, especially when it comes to selling a home. Learn more in our post Absolutely Fabulous! Secrets of Gorgeous Curb Appeal for Every Season.
3. Depersonalize Your Interiors
No matter how tasteful you might think your interior design sense is, one of the best ways you can prepare to showcase your home when hosting showings is to make your home feel as neutral as possible.
Put yourself in the mindset of a potential buyer — when visiting a listing for the first time, you want to be able to picture yourself living in the home, not yourself living with the home. Therefore, any notable style or personality distractions will hamper that idea as a visitor and can detract from the overall experience.
Whether you’ve retained the services of professional home stagers or not, this is something you can get started on immediately. In our experience, the best thing we can recommend you do is either rent a storage space or rely on friends or family to store away any of your more noteworthy decor items ahead of showings.
Plus, as far as staging goes, starting from scratch in a predominantly empty space can inspire new ideas and fresh approaches to layout and functions. You may even find that some of your personal belongings enhance your home, though it’s always better to remove them first before reintroducing them to your space.
It’s pretty universally accepted: a house that looks its best sells for more. Use these tips ahead of your upcoming sale to ensure your home looks its absolute best ahead of showings:
- Can You Elevate Your Bathroom Decor In An Afternoon?
- Lighting Techniques That Give Your Home an Instant Facelift
- A Vision for Your Home: Our Staging Expertise
4. Deep Clean
Once you’ve removed most of your clutter, you’ll most likely end up finding that your home is dirtier than you were even aware of. Even if you’re among the tidiest of people, dust works in the most inconspicuous of ways, and removing bigger pieces of furniture and decor items usually proves that sentiment.
With everything out of the way, now is the best time to take advantage of the emptier space and bleach the blank canvas that is your home ahead of hosting showings and walkthroughs. There are some things you can do on your own, like washing the floors, scrubbing tiles, shining countertops, cleansing kitchens, and cleaning your bathrooms to the point that they look like they’ve never been used before.
However, some areas might require you to rent a few tools or hire the pros to bring them up to scratch. Things like carpet cleaners or power washers for siding and driveways can be rented from your local hardware or home improvement store, and tend to be well worth the investment to ensure your home looks up to snuff ahead of autumn.
Or, you can save yourself the headache and get a team of professional cleaners to make your space look brand new too. Either way, your goal should be to make your home look immaculate when potential buyers walk through the door for the first time.
Want to learn more about what it takes to sell a home for its highest possible price in a big city like Toronto? These related links are here to help:
- How Do I Attract High-Quality Buyers to My Listing?
- Everything You Need to Know Before Selling Your First Home
- What Buyers Want in Toronto Right Now
5. Touch Up Paint Jobs
The final thing you can do as a homeowner before any serious staging and marketing for your listing is done is to retouch or repaint a few key areas of your home, both inside and out.
Starting outside, there are some specific places that benefit immensely from being touched up. Things like doors and doorframes, windowsills and windowpanes, steps, decks, and any other previously coloured wooden structures all gleam when they’ve been repainted.
And while we aren’t expecting you to completely repaint your home’s exterior, if there are any problem spots where chipping or discolouration has occurred, those should be addressed as well.
Needless to say, retouching the paint in your home’s interior also deserves close attention. Interior accents like banisters, cupboards, and cabinetry are important to revitalize, however, walls tend to make the biggest impact.
Just like the decluttering step, the goal of repainting your home’s interior walls is to make them feel as neutral as possible. While fun accent walls can serve a purpose, opting for warm neutral tones like white, off-white, or light grey can visually expand your space and generally appeal to the widest audience.
Again, this is a task you can approach yourself (if you feel confident enough) or hire professionals to do for you. What truly matters here is that your home is ready to leave that beautiful ‘brand new’ impression on buyers ahead of being listed.
No matter if you think your home counts as luxury or not, you should always expect luxury real estate service. While you shouldn’t need convincing, here’s Why Every Seller Deserves Luxury Real Estate Service.