Home Staging Prepare Your House For Sale

The Cost of Selling Your House

You should budget at least one to two percent of the asking price to prepare your house for sale. So for a $300,000 house prepare to spend $3000 to $6000 on getting it ready. You’ll use this money to repair and to make eye-grabbing improvements.

Sellers often have the idea that the work and expense they put in only benefits the buyers since it is they who will get to enjoy all the improvements. This logic is wrong! You revitalize your house because you want to sell it fast and for the highest price.

Statistics collected by the U.S. National Association of Realtors suggests that folks who stage their houses receive seven to eleven percent more money and sell in half the time than those who don’t. Putting this in perspective:

Unstaged Staged Return on Investment
$200,000$214,000 to $222,000$14K to $22K
$300,000$321,000 to $333,000$21K to $33K
$400,000$428,000 to $444,000$28K to $44K
$500,000$535,000 to $555,000$35K to $55K

So a $300,000 staged home could fetch an extra $21,000 to $33,000. Even with out-of-pocket expenses of one to two percent to improve your house, you still come out ahead, by $15,000 in this example ($21,000 minus $6,000).

While it’s difficult to spot the exact amount your house will sell for, it is safe to assume it will sell for more if you take the effort to prepare it. A five percent gain is achievable. Not bad for possibly a few weeks of hard labour.

More tips from 'Prepare Your House For Sale'

(Refresh the browser to see new tips)
Items you should consider tossing: expired food and medications, old newspapers and magazines.
Landscaping: replace damaged decorative edging and landscape timbers.
Laundry Room: clean the exterior of your washer and dryer.
Dated (avocado green or harvest gold colours really give it away) and dented appliances are a call for the buyers to demand a price concession. Naturally they would demand top of the line stainless steel models that will cost far more. Don’t let buyers have this opportunity. Replace these appliances before they set foot through your door.
Showing: you’ve decluttered, repaired, cleaned, revitalized, and your house looks fabulous. Now you want to keep it that way while you’re trying to sell it. This is another challenge onto itself: to prevent the house from drifting back to ‘clutter-land’ after all your hard work. Create three to-do lists: weekly, daily, and showing.
(Refresh the browser to see new tips)
Site Map © Tuan Vu | Prepare Your House For Sale Disclaimer