The number of available homes for sale in Orange County is rising, and that means more competition for home sellers in the second half of 2021. With more homes to choose from, a buyer’s first impression of a home matters. Of course, home sellers only get one shot at making a great first impression, and it comes down to one thing: curb appeal.
Curb appeal is how a home looks from the outside, and it can have a big impact on how much a buyer is willing to pay for a house.
Homes with high curb appeal sell for 7% more on average than houses with a less-welcoming exterior, according to a study by business professor Sriram Villupuram at the University of Texas at Arlington.
“The first impression for potential buyers has a big impact on their mentality as they tour your home, and it can alter what they feel your home is worth. Even small blemishes to a home’s exterior affect how a buyer feels about the home. If your front door has chipped paint, buyers are often concerned about how well you’ve maintained the interior of your home.
Here are five ways to boost your home’s curb appeal to fetch top dollar for your house.
Spruce up the landscaping
Well-landscaped homes sell on average for 5% more than homes with no or poor landscaping, according to a 2019 survey of real estate agents. You want your home’s landscaping to look clean and pristine when buyers pull up to your property.
Professional landscaping, though, can be pricey. More modest interventions like new grass seed, topsoil and shrubs in a front yard make a big difference and give you a high rate of return on the investment. Other options include adding potted plants, window boxes or hanging planters with annual flowers, like petunias. Pop them in and you have an instant pop of color. You can also put down a layer of fresh mulch to give your garden a crisp and clean look. And of course, don’t forget about the basics. Mow the lawn, prune trees and shrubs, and remove weeds and dead branches.
Make the driveway, walkway, and windows sparkling clean
You may not notice your driveway as you pull in your car each day, but a lot of buyers will. Fortunately, “if your driveway has tire marks or oil spots on it, you can typically get rid of them with power washing.
Windows are also a common focal point for prospective buyers, so consider hiring a professional window cleaner to remove streaks, dirt and dust. Professional window cleaning averages $200 to $300 for complete cleaning. This includes interior, exterior, screens, and tracks. Clean window tracks insure your windows slide freely during the home inspection – another added benefit. Washing the windows brings in more natural light making the home feel more welcoming.
Paint (or replace) your front door
“As the main entrance to your home, the front door is a worthwhile place to make an improvement before getting ready to sell. Looking for the right hue? While some homes can benefit from a bright-colored front door, a 2018 study found that homes with black doors sold for $6,271 more than their estimated home value. The main thought is to give the front door a new finish feel. Buyer’s will feel good about the home as they enter, and be pre-disposed to wanting to choose your home.
Painting a front door is a pretty easy project to tackle yourself. Tools and materials, including a two-in-one bucket of paint and primer, paint brush, drop cloth, and sandpaper, only cost about $75, according to HGTV.com, and there’s no shortage of YouTube videos with step-by-step instructions.
But there is an exception. If your front door suffers from warping, paint cracks, rust or scratches, it may be time to buy a new one. Front doors cost an average of $1,000, and professional installation costs an average of $1,091, HomeAdvisor data shows – but the investment can bring you an extra $8,000 in profit.
Swap out fixtures
To give your home’s exterior a modern look, replace outdated light fixtures and old house numbers. A new mailbox can also make your house more inviting; you can find one for as little as $30 at Home Depot or Lowe’s and install it yourself.
Don’t forget to replace burnt-out lightbulbs. In today’s fast-moving housing market, agents are often showing homes to buyers at night (especially if a house is vacant), so having a well-lit walkway to your front door is a must. Light is inviting, and often the brighter, the better. If you have low wattage bulbs in your light fixtures, consider swapping with the highest watt bulb the fixture allows. Light makes a huge difference in how buyers feel about your home.
7 Home Improvement Projects That Actually Pay Off When You Sell
Even in today’s hot real estate market, giving your home a touch-up before you list can help boost its selling price, according to experts — as long as you pick projects that offer the right bang for your buck.
According to a 2019 survey, 23% homeowners who completed at least one improvement project were able to sell their home above list price compared to 17% who made no improvements at all.
You don’t have to break the bank to make an impact on how well your home does on the market either. A little bit of sprucing up can go a long way. Be the home that somebody has spent a few thousand dollars to clean and pretty up. These are the homes that often get multiple offers at or above list price. Depending on the type of renovations you do, you can increase your home’s asking price significantly.
If you don’t want to pay for repairs out of pocket, you don’t have to. When you list your home with Cary Hairabedian, he gives you a free loan to update your home before selling. No loan fees. No loan interest. Andy you keep all of the extra profit your updated homes brings. Go to Cary’s website to learn more and take advantage of your free loan: www.Cary4homes.com.
7 home improvement projects that are worth the cost
In the recent 2021 Profile of Home Staging report detailing the types of home renovation projects most realtors recommend a home seller make before putting their home on the market. Below are the most-recommended home improvement projects. We’ve also added the average costs for each project, when available, so you can judge whether it’s really worth it for you.
In addition, we’ve provided more cost-effective alternatives to full bathroom and kitchen remodels, two popular home improvement projects, that can help make your home more attractive to potential buyers. These two projects are the most common home improvement projects undertaken by homeowners that add value.
Some of these you can do yourself, while others are probably better left to professionals. Either way, you’ll be surprised at how small fixes can make your home pop on the housing market.
Decluttering
Average cost: $450
Buyers want to be able to imagine how their own decorations and furniture fit into a new space. Decluttering means organizing items that may be out of place and generally making the inside of the home look neat. It’s recommended by 93% of realtors surveyed.
New model homes don’t have a bunch of personal items all over the place. Your moving. Now is the time to begin packing. And the best place to start is with personal items. It makes it just feel cleaner and more open.
While this is a project you can do yourself, for some homeowners it can be not only time-consuming but also emotional when making decisions about items that may have sentimental value. Getting your home professionally decluttered is relatively inexpensive and can be done quickly. If needed, a professional declutter has an average cost of $450 nationwide, according to Fixr, a site that provides cost guides and comparisons for home improvement projects.
Deep Cleaning
Average cost: $200 to $600
A thorough home cleaning is recommended by 85% of realtors surveyed. It shows the owner cared about the home enough to keep it clean. This is also a project you could probably do yourself, but hiring a professional crew is not that expensive and they’ll be able to do it faster. If you have carpet in the home, have it professionally cleaned as well, as it can trap pet and other smells you may have become accustomed to and not aware of. Professional carpet cleaning averages around $350.
If the carpet is in poor condition, or has been in the home over 8 years, it is time to replace it with either new carpet or the more popular vinyl wide-plank wood flooring. Replacing flooring in poor condition averages a 3x profit over the cost of the improvement. That’s a great return on investment in a very short time.
Curb appeal
Average Cost: Under $100 to $5,000
The outside of your home can be even more important than the inside when it comes to making a good impression. A neat and well-kept exterior creates excitement to see the rest of the home and is a project that is recommended by 78% of realtors
Curb appeal can be as simple as some light landscaping, including weeding and raking your front lawn and planting new flowers or bushes. Other exterior improvements include painting your front door, repaving your driveway and painting the exterior of your home.
The cost for improving the outdoor look of your home can be as little as $60 for a one-time visit from a lawn care professional to as high as $5,000 if you include repainting the home’s exterior. Landscaping improvements give a home seller the greatest return on investment.
Regular maintenance items
Average Cost: Varies
Things like loose doorknobs, broken fixtures, blown-out light bulbs or other routine maintenance projects should get taken care of before potential buyers see your home. 72% percent of realtors surveyed recommend making minor home repairs ahead of a listing. While these aren’t expensive or difficult fixes, to a buyer walking into the home easily noticeable problems can signal that there may be other unseen issues with the home. And a home purchase is much more emotionally driven than logic driven.
For buyers, “it’s not just the actual dollars it will take to fix it. Subconsciously they start to think that the house may need a lot of maintenance and repair work that’s gone undone.
Interior painting
Average cost: $200 for touchup to $4,000 for full interior paint
Just as with exterior painting, interior painting can add a new look and feel to your home and is recommended by 63% of realtors.
For areas where the paint may be stained or faded, you should go ahead and re-paint the room. If the whole house needs to be repainted, make sure to avoid unusual colors. Stick to neutral shades like white, grey and beige (the same applies to outside painting). Orange may be your favorite color but it could turn a potential buyer off – and there goes the extra profit you receive from the improvement.
Bathroom refresh
Average cost: Starts at $300
You don’t necessarily need to do a full bathroom renovation in order to improve your home’s chance of selling. You can get by with a refresh – as long as the room is in fairly decent condition to begin and not decades old.
A bathroom refresh can be as simple as replacing a vanity, mirror, shower head or faucet. New towel racks or a fresh coat of paint can also give the bathroom a new look.
If you have a tub and shower combo that’s looking a little dull, you can reglaze them instead of a full replacement. Reglazing tile will make it look like new and change the feel of the room.
Depending on what you decide to replace, you can spend as little as $300 for some small bathroom refreshes.
Kitchen refresh
Average cost: Starts at $1,200
In the kitchen, consider painting your existing cabinets and replacing the hardware to give them an updated look. Replace the countertops if they’re old or even slightly damaged.
If your appliances are fairly new and in good condition, there’s no need to replace them. However, if they are older or in poor condition, you can buy a suite of stainless steel appliances for a few thousand dollars.
You don’t have to go with top of the line appliances. New and modern works. You can do a kitchen refresh for around $1,200 according to hardware giant Lowes.
Your Cypress area home has nearly doubled in value over the past 10 years, and home prices may be reaching another peak. If you have been considering a move, now be the time to cash in on today’s record prices and receive up to $500,000 of your profit tax free? Give me a call, and I can show how to receive the most profit when selling!
You have access to our exclusive “Free” loan to update your home when you list with us!
Cary Concierge Service
Cary will Fully Front the Cost to Prepare Your Home and insure you receive the Highest Price.
This includes, Staging, Repairs, and Cosmetic Improvements.
No Hidden Loan Fees – No Interest Charged – Ever.
Quick: Our concierge process is designed for speed. Work can begin now – and your home will sell fast.
Affordable: Eliminates stress. No loan fees, No appraisal fee, and No interest – No kidding.
Intelligent: Cary will help you determine the best updates and repairs that will give you the highest return.
Easy: Cary is personally involved throughout the process, providing the best advice from start to finish.
We currently have buyers right now looking to purchase a Cypress home from $700,000 to $1.4 million.
Call Cary direct at 800-944-2441 or email Cary at: Cary@SoCal.rr.com. We can review your best options to insure you receive the most profit when selling.
The call, like our Concierge loan service costs you nothing. And of course our conversations are always confidential. Let’s talk soon.