This is a good question to ask or consider now that our market has changed to a balanced market, inventory has risen, and you are most likely going to have some good competition for your home when you go on the market.
Number 1 is typically removing about 25-50% of furniture and items from a property to make the space feel larger and improve the flow throughout the home. It doesn't take any of us very long to collect way more stuff than we need. This is the beginning step of our staging process.
Number 2 is painting; this comes with a disclaimer: the appraisal institute estimates a 200-300% payback on painting but I can tell you firsthand that it is only the case when you use the right colour, if you are doing it in preparation to sell. The right colour changes with the times and we pick a colour that we know the maximum amount of people will like and that will least likely annoy anybody.... yes, a little neutral and some may consider bland but totally different if you are picking a colour that appeals to you because you are going to live with it for the next 5 years; than ignore payback in that case, it’s for your enjoyment, which is perfectly fine!
Number 3 is lighting, or maybe a tie for number 2, in my opinion. There is nothing worse than a dimly lit home to make it feel small, a bit depressing and it doesn't exactly give you that clean feeling either. There are many LED fixtures at a reasonable cost these days and worth considering. The bulbs are very important as well; I would recommend a temperature of 2700K-3000k which is closest to what our eyes are used to and distorts the colour less as well. Around an 8.5-watt LED creates something close to 60 watts of light. WARNING: Do be careful today when buying the many fixtures that are designed for LED bulbs i.e. Ikea; I see many hall fixtures with a clear 40-watt max warning on them loaded with 60w and 100w bulbs.... a fire hazard I believe, so another reason I like the LEDs to get the wattage up.
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Top 3 things to do before you sell
