Money spent updating your kitchen rewards you better than money spent on any other upgrades to your home. When it comes to kitchens, buyers continue to demand improvement in efficiency and style, and they love remodeled kitchens and new appliances.
Even if you home costs less than the newer homes in your area, buyers view the model homes and hold the ideal in mind while home shopping.
Newer homes place kitchens open to the family room and often have wide views of the outside. Newer homes also boast larger kitchens with more than one preparation area because cooking has become a social activity, and new homes often include a bar or buffet for entertaining. Cooks want to be in the middle of family activities so they can enjoy companionship.
Buyers look for a kitchen with large open areas that allow guests enough room to mingle, along with workspace for kids doing homework or even a small kitchen workspace for paying bills or making phone calls.
Present your kitchen as an organized, clutter-free, versatile space that will help your buyers feel they could be productive and happy working and interacting in the heart of their new home.
You don’t need to completely makeover your kitchen to sell your home. Packing and storing extra kitchen pots, pans, and utensils generates a more spacious presentation. You may also wish to invest in an attractive portable kitchen island to use as a prop for a kitchen with an open center and insufficient counter space.
Consider easy, low-cost changes that instantly upgrade a kitchen without major remodeling. These include the following ideas:
1.) Replace your faucet with a fancier model.
2.) Change your cabinet hardware.
3.) Paint cabinet faces.
4.) Replace or paint ugly laminate countertops. (Use Marine-grade paint.)
5.) Add warmth during cold seasons with a gorgeous rug next to the sink counter.
No matter your makeover budget, prepare your home for sale with little changes like clearing the countertops, adding new dish towels, and a bowl of fruit. Make your kitchen entice a buyer to say, “This is my new home.”
Copyright © 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author’s information with live links only.)
By: Jeanette Joy Fisher
Posts Tagged ‘Clutter’
Prepare Your Home for Sale: Kitchen Makeover Ideas
May 29th, 2010Home Organization Tip – Less Is More
April 19th, 2010
Getting your home organized can seem like a daunting task. Every room filled with clutter and more things than you know what to do with. So let me share with you a tip I have learned along the way in my home organization journey. Less is more. Now this tip has three different meanings.
Meaning #1
Less is more when it comes to tackling your home organization project. What do I mean by this? I mean don’t try to do it all at once. Take it in small, bite-sized pieces. Ten minutes here and there is better than throwing up your hands in defeat and not even bothering to start. Like many things in life, home organization is a journey. And to quote an old saying “every journey begins with a single step.” Decide on a single step that you will do each day or each week and then do it. Consistent, persistent action in the direction of your home organization goals will get you where you want to go.
Meaning #2
Less is more when it comes to stuff in your home. Ask yourself how much you really value some of the things that you have in your home. We often collect things that we sometimes don’t even want because someone gave it to us, it was free, or we “inherited” it from somewhere along the way. Now I’m not suggesting that you get rid of grandma’s handmade quilt. However, I am suggesting you really think about how much you like and value having in your life that vase Aunt Ida gave you that you never use because you can’t stand to look at it. Evaluate the stuff you have in your home. If you ever hope to get your home organized, you’re going to have to get rid of some of it. And that will mean making some hard decisions about what stays and what goes. A home organization prioritization system (1, 2, 3 or A, B, C) can help you decide what you want to keep and what you don’t. Important stuff would be A, maybes would be B, and call a charity to come pick it up would be C. Just remember to go back through your B category and make a final call on whether it is an A or a C.
Meaning #3
Less is more when it comes to being hard on yourself when you didn’t get done what you wanted to get done. We have a tendency to beat ourselves up when we set a goal and then don’t accomplish it. Stop it. Your home organization journey is just that, a journey. You will have setbacks, things may take longer than you anticipated. Learn the home organization lessons that you need to learn from it and move on. Are you underestimating the amount of time it takes you to do things? Are you getting distracted? Are you too tired when you start? Figure out why you are having setbacks and then re-evaluate your goals. It is okay to change and adjust your home organization goals along the way. Be gentle with yourself.
By: Jill Borash
Preparing Your Home to Sell
February 16th, 2010
Make all necessary visible repairs, particularly the small ones. This includes things like finishing unfinished projects, repairing broken screens, cracked windows, leaks, shaky railings, and damaged flooring.
Freshen walls with fresh paint and neutralize color schemes to appeal to the majority of buyers. Wallpaper tends to be very personal and most potential buyers will see themselves as having to remove it, so strip or paint over all wallpaper.
Clean the landscape. A good weekend yard clean up could add thousands of dollars to the value of your home. In some cases, it is worth it to add pizzazz to the front entrance of your home with new plants, planters, an outdoor light, a mailbox, or other attractive features.
Clutter tops the list for discouraging offers and reducing the amount of those offers. Get rid of or prepack as much as possible. What you do absolutely need to keep for immediate use, store out of site in furniture or arrange neatly in closets with ample space. Most of your clothes, media, books, collections, office items, toys, wall art and personal photos can be prepacked and removed from the living areas.
Each room or area should have a clear purpose such as: living room, dining room, bedroom, home office. Avoid having rooms other than great rooms serve more than one purpose. Keep only the essential furniture in each room to maximize the feeling of space.
Spring clean your house. Everything should be thoroughly dusted, vacuumed, or washed. Animal and smoking smells in particular, must be thoroughly cleaned, not just covered up with air fresheners.
Sell the lifestyle. Add an arrangement to several rooms such as fresh flowers, candles, or an attractively set table. Each room should be appealing as if it were a fine hotel.
By: CD Mohatta