A little flavor goes a long way in igniting a home buyer's imagination and allows them to see your home as their own.
As for the home's exterior, unless it's completely outdated, a simple power washing will remove years of built-up dust and dirt and liven up the curb appeal. If you do choose to paint it, again, we recommend neutrals that match the overall vibe of the neighborhood.
Improvements That Brighten Your Home and Your ROI
When aiming to sell your luxury home, the last thing you probably feel like doing is pumping money into a property you won't be living in. It's a legitimate concern.
However, when attempting to squeeze every last cent from your sale, a few hundred or even a couple thousand dollars in upgrades is well worth the potential return.
Of course, you don't need to go crazy with bathroom redos and kitchen renovations—leave that to the new owners to do as they wish. What you want to aim for is minor touches with significant returns.
Your main goal should be to make the home as open and welcoming as possible, which you can accomplish in two ways. The first, as we mentioned above, is through color—clean lines and neutral tones that’ll help a homebuyer envision their future in the house. The second is through light.
Lighting your home appropriately is often the difference between feeling warm and welcoming versus dark and foreboding. When accessorizing, invest in floor and table lamps that illuminate dark corners and create a greater sense of livability.
Also, take stock of your overhead lights. Unless the fixtures are central to the home's overall aesthetic, replace them with newer lighting that matches current tastes.
The same goes for ceiling fans, faceplates, and door hardware. Again, unless your home is historical and requires certain elements to be authentic, swapping out the older smaller details in a home will help it shine brighter.
Another aspect of improving your home's lighting is windows. No, we don't mean replacing them, but if it's been a while since you've cleaned them, do so.
Once that's done, you should consider if the window treatments—blinds, curtains, shades, shutters—require updating. A couple of good rules to follow:
- Lose heavy drapery in favor of lighter, less imposing materials (or nothing at all)
- Remove old blinds and replace them with current styles, such as two-inch wood blinds
- Focal point or architecturally significant windows should be left bare to speak for themselves—don't detract from their grandeur
- If your home has exterior shutters, consider repainting them or removing them altogether as some styles can significantly date a home
- Replace old or worn screens
Again, your goal is to breathe new life into the home and make it easy for potential buyers to envision themselves living there.
The World’s a Stage, and Your Home Has a Starring Role
The final element of physical home marketing is staging. When staging a home for tours, follow similar rules of clean lines, neutral furnishings, and creating a pleasing aesthetic. Less is always more, so you want your home's marketing path to show well and be simple to navigate.
Successful staging also reveals the home's versatility. For example, if the house is lacking a standalone office or fitness room, consider staging one of the spare bedrooms as such a space.
If the home features a den or additional small living area, stage it as an office, play area, or television room to show off its many uses.
The secondary purpose of staging is to make the home welcoming and photogenic. Modern home marketing is primarily done online. Long before visiting your house, potential buyers will view pictures, take virtual tours, and form opinions based on their online experience.
You want those opinions to be positive. While your real estate agent handles the heavy lifting of advertising your home, what happens inside is primarily up to you, which leads us to our final tip.
Leave Your Emotions at the Door
Okay, we know this might be a tired business cliché, but it’s a common mistake for home sellers, particularly at the luxury level. While talking about living in and improving your home to suit your tastes makes for a good story, it doesn't always help sell it to those with different styles or purposes for the house.
It’s one thing if your ideal buyer is a mirror image of you, but approach your home’s marketing in broader terms. Your goal is to figure out who your ideal buyer is and cast the widest net possible to find them. It's vital to keep this in mind as you make decisions during the marketing process.
For example, even if your home was a great place to raise a family in, that might not appeal to individuals seeking a place for a home business or as an income property.
Of course, many of us develop deep emotional attachments to our homes. Don't hesitate to lean heavily on a trusted realtor to help you make objective decisions about how to market your house. When it comes to prepping your home for sale, your realtor might even recommend experts like professional stagers to assist in presenting your home in the best light.
You should welcome any advice with an open mind. Remember, your goal is to sell your home quickly and for as much money as possible and move on to your next chapter in life.
Interested in selling your Capitol Hill home? Or are you seeking information on houses for sale in Capitol Hill, D.C., Alexandria, Virginia, or Chevy Chase, Maryland? Regardless of where your property journey takes you,
contact Katrina Homes today and allow us to be your guide to luxury Washington, D.C. real estate.
