When you are selling your house, keep one thing in mind: Potential home buyers do not use a lot of imagination when house shopping. That is to say, if a potential buyer walks into a house that has dirty and stained carpet, they can be easily turned off and disinterested instead of realizing that changing carpet isn’t that expensive.
There are five features that can make or break a closing. If you are putting your house on the market, look at the following features in your home from the potential buyer’s point of view. If you think it looks old or unattractive, so will they and may very well dismiss an otherwise wonderful home.
1. Kitchen Cabinets & Counters
It used to be that the living room was the favorite room of the house. Nowadays, the kitchen is where the family gathers most frequently and spends the most time. The size of the kitchen doesn’t matter as much as the overall appearance. The cabinets are the first to be noticed. If they are old and outdated, it could be an instant “no, thank you,” from a buyer. An outdated counter is less noticeable but just be sure the cabinets match the counter in color. An updated kitchen is extremely important these days. If you put money into only one room in your house, let it be the kitchen.
2. Lawn
It is not necessary to completely overhaul your lawn for a new buyer. You don’t know what their plans may be. However, it is terribly important to tidy up the lawn as much as possible. If a potential buyers uses any imagination at all when looking at houses, it will be in the lawn and garden. This is an easy and enjoyable area to personalize. Just remember, if a front or back lawn is overgrown and full of dead bushes and weeds, a buyer will be instantly turned off. Simply remove all dead bushes and mow the grass. If necessary, pull up all the dead grass and leave the new buyer with a blank canvas, so to speak. It is better for a buyer to see a clean field of dirt instead of a yard deeply in need of cleaning.
3. Light Fixtures
In the same way that kitchen cabinets can instantly date a house, the light fixtures have the same influence. If the light fixtures in your home are basic and lack any definite style, you can possibly get away with neglecting this feature. However, if you have the extra time and several hundred dollars to invest, switching out old fixtures for sleek new fixtures will charm any buyer. It is not just the look of the fixture that is either attractive or unattractive. The amount of light and the color of light that the fixture gives the room has a sub conscience effect on how a person feels about the room.
4. Flooring
Treat your flooring as you would if you were staying in the house. If your carpet is dirty but fairly new, shampoo it and keep it vacuumed for viewings. If the carpet is in such bad condition that shampooing does not help its appearance, it must be replaced. The last thing a new home owner wants to do is shampoo carpet or lay down new flooring. Also, tile and wood floors always increase the value of a house and tend to be desired by most people.
5. Paint
There is no need to paint the walls a different color. Simply touch up the walls in the color they currently are painted in. That is, unless every room in your house is painted black or some other unusual and unpleasant color. In that case, wash over it all with a primer at least. In the case that the walls are a usual tone, just touch up the baseboards, doorframes, etc. The only reason a home seller should touch up their paint is to give each room a look of freshness and cleanliness so touch up wherever is necessary. Paint is the quickest and cheapest way to breathe new life into a room. Similar to light fixtures, freshly painted walls have a positive sub conscience effect on potential home buyers.
This real estate resource provided by BuildingsGuide.com, a leading online resource for steel buildings and homes, metal building kits, and pricing tools for the DIY home enthusiast.
This guest blog post was written by Tracy Tesmer, founder of Tracy Tesmer Design • Build • Remodel • Repair, a 
