What to do when selling to get best bang for buck?

Summer of 2021 or 2022, I plan to sell my house and hopefully buy my forever home.

The house is a semi detached in a neighbourhood of row houses and semi detached. I know there is an upper limit of what I can get for it. I know things like granite countertops and high end finishes will not give me much of a ROI.

As I have one summer to really do much before winter sets in prior to when I plan to list it, what would be your list of 5-10 things to do to make it more sellable? What are things to not waste the money on?

I have already redone the siding, roof, and painted most of the interior walls.

De-clutter, stage the house to look like a show home. Repair chipped paint, rotten siding or deck panels. Make it easy for the buyer to see themselves living there without having to do major repairs. Fresh cut lawn and maintained garden goes a long way for a first impression and curb appeal. Brighten up the rooms with lots of light and leave ALL the lights on when you vacate so the viewers don’t need to look for the light switches.

Yes, de-clutter.
Stage with minimal furniture, it will look so much bigger.
Plants are cheap and big bang for your buck.
Even flowers in pots.
Kitchen and bathrooms give best return.
Take care of odors or pets stains.
Paint all white or light neutral colors.

Having your own inspection done to find things that need to be fixed so you are not up against time lines and deep discounts to make a sale.
Don't be afraid to have real estate people thru for a look see, they see and hear what turns off buyers.
If you do use a real estate to sell, don't be afraid to be the boss and learn more about what stipulations you can add to their contract. Out here they want a listing for 6 month and then they expect you to lower the price after 2 weeks. That would be fine if the market is crashing but if the market is climbing the listed price should be what the house will be worth 1/2 way thru the contract.
Out here they charge something like 7% on the first $100K and 2% after that. I always have them change that to a flat % like on a $500K house that would be 3% , it makes a difference when you have to discount the price.

nealtw said:

Having your own inspection done to find things that need to be fixed so you are not up against time lines and deep discounts to make a sale.
Don't be afraid to have real estate people thru for a look see, they see and hear what turns off buyers.
If you do use a real estate to sell, don't be afraid to be the boss and learn more about what stipulations you can add to their contract. Out here they want a listing for 6 month and then they expect you to lower the price after 2 weeks. That would be fine if the market is crashing but if the market is climbing the listed price should be what the house will be worth 1/2 way thru the contract.
Out here they charge something like 7% on the first $100K and 2% after that. I always have them change that to a flat % like on a $500K house that would be 3% , it makes a difference when you have to discount the price.

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I had one done when I moved in and used it as a "hunny do list" of things to do. Things like the roof were done the summer I moved in.

I will be using a real estate agent, likely the one I used to buy the house. I think he said he charged 5%. I will tell him to list it at the highest price in the area as we have a newly built permitted garage that most of the neighbours lack. I will also dictate how often to lower it. The good thing is, in this area, a house is not on the market for more than a month.

My hope is when I have him list it, those turn offs have been resolved. Hence why I am asking here what to go for.

Post a list of things you think might need fixing, improving, or upgrading, or putting at the curb.

We can give our two cents’ worth.

Many realtors (at least in my area near Chicago) will stop by for a no-strings walk through and give free advice.
Of course they hope you will give them your listing, but you are not obligated to.

Jeff Handy said:

Post a list of things you think might need fixing, improving, or upgrading, or putting at the curb.

We can give our two cents’ worth.

Many realtors (at least in my area near Chicago) will stop by for a no-strings walk through and give free advice.
Of course they hope you will give them your listing, but you are not obligated to.

Click to expand...

That's part of the problem. Besides my list of things I will be doing, I am wondering what things are normally good to do that will give me that edge when I want to sell.

swimmer_spe said:

I am wondering what things are normally good to do that will give me that edge when I want to sell.

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I'm not an expert on any of this, but...

A decent starting place might be to think about who the ideal buyer is, given the type of house and the neighborhood. A young family with one kid? A retired couple? Is it a bachelor pad? Etc. Then think about people you know who fit into that demographic, and what kinds of things they're probably looking for.

You could look at listings that are similar to your house in terms of size, layout, and neighborhood, and even go to open houses and listen to what people say, though of course that's a time commitment. But hey, it could reward you in the long run if you're able to dramatically increase the selling price of your home with the insights you collect.

I'd also pay attention to what house-flippers in your area do, because they've done a lot of this "research" for you. Are granite countertops en vogue? Backsplash? Vessel sinks? Unpainted wooden shutters? Extra storage in the garage? Outbuildings for landscaping equipment? There was a time when everyone wanted a bar in their basement mancaves, so a lot of them had those, but I'm not sure if that's still a big thing.

Here's the important part: Triangulate all that with what you can do for very little money. Leverage whatever special access you have to cheap stuff, like if you buy things at auction or go garage sale-ing, or if you know someone who is privy to that stuff. My next door neighbor used to install high-end kitchen equipment in businesses and rich people's homes, so he was often able to get the lightly used equipment and cabinets they'd removed either free or very cheap, and these were still usually nicer than what I could afford. (Unfortunately I only found that out after we'd moved in and bought our own fridge and dishwasher.)

If there are any open houses in your immediate area go check them out. That will give you an idea of what your competition has done to their houses. If everyone has granite or some other solid surface it will likely be worth your effort to do the same. I'm resisting granite, though I know in my neighborhood it is expected these days. I can't see putting several thousand dollars worth of granite on 21 year old builder grade cabinets. My plan is to update my kitchen in the next few years. We just got out of the college years and we now have some major expenses on the horizon for our 21 year old house. I'm preparing to finish the basement and I know my HVAC systems are on borrowed time. Those are my 2020 projects. We plan on staying in this house for at least another 7 years or so, until I retire. We live .5 miles from my office, though I work from home I do go in occasionally. I also store my F-150 in the parking deck at work, so having it close by and under cover is really handy.

Decluttering, cleaning, fresh paint, minor cosmetic repairs are all good suggestions that don't cost much. If your carpets are getting old, replacing those just before you put it on the market would be money well spent. You don't need to go top of the line carpet, but do upgrade the pad. A good pad will make less expensive carpet feel like it is higher quality. A cheap pad will make expensive carpet feel cheap.

OP here.

My realtor will be visiting me next week. I will see what he thinks will help him sell it easier.