A little primping goes a long way with buyers
Put your best home forward by cleaning, decluttering, renovating and redecorating
It’s spring and you’ve decided to sell your home. After all, in this hot realestate market, you’re sure to sell fast and for top dollar, right?
Well, yes and no. You might sell quickly but maybe not for the best price, according to Samantha Pynn, a Toronto-based designer and host of Open House Overhaul, a new HGTV show that helps homeowners prime their places when it’s time to sell. Here are Pynn’s tips for putting your best house forward. Clear (and clean) the decks. “The first thing you need to do is to declutter and clear all of the mess out of your house,” says Pynn. “If you can get in there and clear all the clutter, it makes a really good impression. It says I have taken really good care of my home.” How can you be sure you’ve cleared enough? Invite your favourite neat-freak for a walk through. “They will tell you if you have too many things and pictures and personal items on the wall.” Floor your buyers. A surefire way to keep your open house on solid ground — update your flooring. “If you’ve got old, worn-out carpets that are stained and buckling in places, if possible, remove them,” says Pynn. “Put in wood, or a floating floor, or those easy-to-install luxury vinyl tiles that look like wood. Don’t cheap out with a low-quality laminate that you can feel lifting every time you step.” An engineered hardwood click floor, Pynn says, is a great investment. Depersonalize with paint. “If you’ve got feature walls that are red, or if there are purple stripes or you decided you wanted to paint your trim line green, it’s really distracting for buyers when they walk into your home,” says Pynn. Thankfully, the solution is as close as your nearest paint store. But before you buy a few gallons and a roller, she advises in- vesting a little time researching. “Look at inspiration photos. Look at what’s current on the market,” she suggests. “Look at magazines, go onto Pinterest and look at what people are pinning.” Confused by all the choices? Pynn says you can’t go wrong with “creamy and dreamy or very dove grey. Those are very palatable colours.” The desired effect is for potential buyers to be able to picture themselves in your home. Get the light right. Got compact fluorescent bulbs above your bathroom vanity mirror? Switch ’em out, says Pynn. “You need the right light bulbs for the fixtures you have,” she says. “If it feels like a 1980s office in your house, you’re going to want to change your light bulbs.”
But don’t stop there. Think of lighting in terms of layers by making use of lamps.
“A great floor lamp will make a big difference in a living room,” she says. “When people walk through your home, layered lighting is really important. If it feels like it’s a dark space — and sometimes people can’t view your home until the evening — it’s going to feel dingy, and people want a home that feels light and fresh and airy. So lighting is an important but inexpensive investment.” Paint, patch or pitch. Lighting and fresh paint can take your home a long way, so don’t get hamstrung by dated kitchen cabinets and worn-out furniture.
“If you’ve got a sofa cushion that’s ripped, get it reupholstered or put in a new sofa — you’ll be buying one for your next home anyway, so you might as well help sell your home with something great,” says Pynn. “Anything that’s tattered or ripped or chipped — paint it, patch it, it’s all so important. It affects the way people view your home.”
Nowhere is that view more important than in the kitchen. If yours is a little worse for wear, Pynn advises giving it a quick “facelift” by painting your cabinets, and adding new hardware and a backsplash.
“It feels like you have a brand new kitchen,” she says. “An updated faucet even helps the space look more modern.” And wood aficionados: let it go. “All trim, including kitchen cabinetry, should be painted the same colour,” says Pynn. “Then it just becomes part of the architecture.”
You can have your cupboard doors spray-laquered for about $35 apiece, or do it yourself. “It makes such a difference.”