Have you been thinking about listing your home for sale in the DC Metro Area? Let us give you some tips.
What do you think of when you start to think of preparing a home for sale? Does the “oh goodness… I have to do that major deep cleaning” come to mind? Well, it should. I used to call it the “get myhouse ready for my mother in law clean…” Which is also how clean I would like my house to be when I am showing it to potential buyers… I digress… In Forbes recent online post about the 20 Best and Worst Home Improvements for the Buck, they let the homeowners know what they feel are 20 founded good and bad improvements to make or not make compared to cost benefit analysis.
On the top of their list, we will find that “oh goodness” doing the deep cleaning 
gets you the biggest bang for your buck. If you think about the amount of money you can save by donning the yellow latex gloves and swiffering to you hearts content, you can save yourself some green while creating a peaceful, clean sanctuary for the the buyer at a practically insignificant cost to you.
Keeping a tidy yard: Again, if you do this yourself, or hire some pros who know how to get the job done in an efficient and timely manner, you can shave off some cost and put more money in your pocket at closing. You don’t have to get all 
Edward Scissor Hands and create poodle shaped topiary gardens or anything, just make sure that you spruce up your spruces, get your weeds pulled and if you want to really impress the home inspector when they come through, cut any overhanging branches which may be coming toward your roof line. As we all know, you will want to make sure that your entry way to your home is a happy and welcoming place. By sweeping off the front porch, adding a new coat of paint to the lucky red front door and a ‘welcoming” welcome mat, you have created an emotional draw to a buyer who will want to call your home their own- and pay you what your home is worth.
When the economy is down, they say that we should start doing things on our own- not like this poor gal who is cutting her own bangs… but by doing little things that we can handle and not taking on big projects that may more than likely not give us the return we’re looking for on our 
investments. Take for instance the “worst” idea of re-doing your kitchen in poor style, or by adding a family room- but not for your family. You don’t have to take on big remodeling jobs to make your home sell-able. Just start thinking about things that will make your home worth more money to someone. A word of advice: It is often a good idea if you’re thinking about making any of the huge changes or upgrades when you are thinking about selling your home, to actually engage your real estate professional. See what is going on in your particular market. I am not just saying this because I’m a Realtor, I’m saying this because it is true. Just because you saw it on HGTV doesn’t mean you should necessarily do it to your own home.
Having a home energy audit completed in order to see where you home could become more energy efficient is a great start for taking steps in the “more money in your pocket” and the buyers! If you see how you can improve the home’s energy efficiency – by say- adding spray foam insulation to the attic space, or adding a programmable thermostat to your home, these upgrades are low cost on the project spectrum and add value to you while you’re still in the home as well as to the potential new homeowner when they see how much money they will save by having a high performance home.
I’d love to help guide you through the process if you’re thinking about selling your place, and especially if you’re thinking about doing upgrades. I can tell you the optimal places to put your focus- from cleaning and staging to remodeling. Let me help simplify things for you!
