Excellent Location – Review of Rembrandt Hotel Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand – Tripadvisor
If you manage to lure potential buyers into your home, they’ll quickly take note of several things. Are there pictures of your family adorning every wall? These issues are easily remedied, but if you don’t find the time to take care of them, your home will probably have trouble selling for your asking price. Is the home dusty and dimly lit? Is the house cluttered with your possessions? Odd colors, weird wallpaper and bad flooring are likely to look like a headache to potential buyers, rather than selling points. A fresh interior paint job is a good idea too, although again, don’t get too wacky. If your home is lacking in storage space, that also may be a point of contention.
Those tastes may vary greatly both geographically and demographically. The more people who find a house attractive when it hits the market, the better off you’ll be. On the following pages, we’ll examine some of the top causes of home devaluation and see what, if anything, homeowners can do about them. A house with the flexibility to suit a big slice of the population pie will be more in demand than one highly customized to any one particular lifestyle. The housing market rises and falls, and if you’ve tried to unload a home at a decent price during the real estate chaos that occurs during one of the lows, you’re probably all too aware of how difficult that can be when the market is flooded.
Front doors are the focal center of most houses, so pick that color with care as well. Now that we’ve covered the outside of your home, let’s walk through the front door and see what we’re facing. To better understand maximizing curb appeal and the power of paint, learn about color choice in What is color psychology — and can it help you sell your home? If you’re worried that your house’s paint job is a little lacking, it’s a good idea to ask friends and family to recommend two types of professionals — a housepainter and a color consultant. You may be able to find one person who can fulfill both services for you.
Light pollution from a nearby highway or athletic complex could make buyers wary, too. If your part of town is known for criminal activity, that’s not good either. Times change and so do neighborhoods, and if yours has gone downhill, the value of your home could suffer. Or the area went to pieces, and a strip club with dodgy clientele has set up shop just around the corner. Power plants and landfills are bad news, too. Or maybe since you first moved in, a cell phone tower has been built nearby. They’ve both been proven to affect home values negatively.
For more tips and tricks for your home, see the links on the next page — they could give you even more ideas. Burnett, Bill and Burnett, Kevin. Gopal, Prashat. “Bargain Homes in the Best School Districts.” Business Week. Heavens, Al. “Right Paint Choices Are Key To Resale.” Realty Times. Graham, Matthew. “The Definitive Short Sale Article.” Mortgage News Daily. O’Connell, Brian. “7 neighborhood threats to your home’s value.” MSN. Robertson, Chris. “Realtors say that house painting is the single best way to increase the selling price of your house.” Majon International. Rodriguez, Natalie and Vaglica, Sal. What’s the one thing you can do to increase the value of your home the most? Perkins, Broderick. “Painting Your House.” Realty Times.
Lastly, while many homeowners have past pets slowly converting into fertilizer in the backyard, buyers usually are not thrilled at the thought of harboring your dead cat, dog, hamster or rabbit. On the next page, we’ll dig deeper into curb appeal. Needless to say, paint plays a big part in curb appeal, and if your house is in desperate need of a fresh coat, that flaw could be wreaking havoc on your home’s value. If your yard made a poor first impression on potential buyers, did the outside of your house make up for it? Removing any grave markers would be prudent.
