Putting a home on the market is an experience that everyone dreads. The scent of change and relocation can be intoxicating, but once your home is listed, the clock begins ticking. If a home has been on the market for too long, people begin to think that something is wrong with it and will avoid visiting or give you a significantly lowered offer. Keeping your home in tip-top shape, especially in the year that you plan on relocating, can increase the amount you sell it for and make the sale process go quicker. There are many tricks that make houses more attractive, like a Realtor baking cookies before an open house, but there are also substantial improvements that will garner you more return than you invested. This article will tell you the best places to put your money before you plan on selling, including in new paint and sprinkler system repair. New Paint and Baseboard Touch-Ups This sounds too simple to be a truly great way to increase your home's appeal, but people really do judge a book by its cover! New paint can freshen up a whole space and make it feel much brighter. Old paint accumulates scrapes, dings, and discoloration that your eye will get so used to you can't predict how others will see them. If you do a professional job, or hire someone to do it for you, your whole house will look much cleaner and welcoming. Baseboards are the same kettle of fish. Baseboards bear the brunt of a lot of activity within the home. Repainting your baseboards or replacing those that have substantial damage will do wonders in an open house or a walk-through by potential buyers. Bathroom and Kitchen Updates The two rooms that you can never fail to gain value by sprucing up are the kitchen and bathroom. Nobody wants to buy a house with a lot of work to be done. Because people live the majority of their time at home in these rooms, having old appliances and outmoded decorations can be particularly irksome. The first place to start when deciding to add to them is to see if there are any updated appliances that you can find on sale. Of course, if your appliances are in good condition, you might want to forgo this step. If you have money to spend, you can replace cabinets and counter tops. For the more budget-conscious, you can reface cabinets that are in sound structural condition. Refacing is essentially just putting on new wood or a "face." New cabinets in either important room will make the space look newer. Sprinkler Systems and Yard Maintenance The first thing that potential buyers are going to see when they visit your home is the yard. If you have broken sprinkler heads or unkempt flora, they will see your home as a project and avoid it. Taking a few days to do some landscaping can improve the feel of your property. Make sure to trim your trees at the end of the spring and weed any flowerbeds that are going to be visible from the road. You can get cheap plants from many hardware stores, which you can plant to give your house a pop of color. Going through the whole of your sprinkler system to check for areas where water is leaking or heads are malfunctioning can similarly make a difference when it comes to answering buyers' questions and showing them that your home is worth top dollar. You can repair some systems yourself or look for qualified sprinkler system repair professionals in your area.
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