Home Improvements; When Less is More
If you have been a homeowner for more than a just a few years you know how most homes need constant upkeep, especially older ones. Frequently homeowners are faced with a laundry list of things that need to be done, but their budget only permits a select few. Here’s what to do when your home’s needs are greater than your resources.
More Bang for Your Buck
If you are like most people and have limited resources, you have to focus on the things that will give you the most mileage for the money. One of the first things that come to most people’s minds is paint. For the money spent, this is one of the best ways to really give your home a stellar appearance inside and out. The part where many homeowners go wrong here is with their choice of paint color. This is especially true if a sale is in your homes near future. If that’s the case it’s best to choose a color that will appeal to the masses, rather than one that requires potential buyers to share your unique (and maybe odd) taste. Even white can look fantastic if it’s done well. This is true not only for the inside of your home, but a great paint job really boosts your home’s curb appeal. If you have wallpaper consider leaving it be unless it’s some garish color or is so busy it makes it hard to focus on the rest of the room. Most people who buy a house are going to decorate it to their own tastes to make it their home. So, unless your wallpaper is peeling or just plain obnoxious, you may want to just leave it be.
Taking Care of Problem Areas
Take a look around your house and pay special attention to the ceilings and the walls near the ceilings. It’s not uncommon to find water stains or even small spots of mold. Whatever you do, you cannot afford to do nothing. You may know that the water stains were from your 7yr olds new squirt gun, but a potential buyer is going to be wondering how much he’ll have to pay to fix a leaky roof if he buys your house. People like to look into bathrooms. You may have had the foresight to update your faucets, but don’t think a buyer will not open the cabinet and look under the sink to see what condition the pipes are in. Here’s another place where water stains where the pipes meet the wall can really cause a problem. You don’t want your buyers having visions in their head of tearing apart your walls; that’s a deal breaker.
A Word on Curb Appeal
We’ve already covered painting so let’s talk about landscaping. You don’t really need to hire a professional landscaper to make your lot look attractive. You can achieve a lot in terms of appearance just by doing a little weeding, mowing the lawn and trimming the yard and hedges. You can probably do all that yourself. If weeds are a constant problem, consider the different kinds of barks and woodchips that are available now. You might even consider different rocks and gravels. You can get any number of different gravel mixtures that come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors. All you need is a pickup, a wheel barrow, and a shovel.
People don’t love a messy lot. For example, you may have this great side business of repairing friends and neighbors cars, but if you have autos in various states of disrepair on your lot it’s going to be a huge turnoff for buyers. At least for the time the home is listed, move the cars off the property. And finally replace any cracked windows and wash off the spider webs, it’ll make your home look a lot neater. If you don’t take care of the little details, buyers are going to be wondering what other things you may have overlooked that they cannot see. You definitely don’t want them thinking about that.
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Category: Housing
