Listing & Selling

How Much Should You Invest to Prepare Your Home

Most home sellers realize how important it is to properly prepare their home before putting it on the market, but with all the TV shows emphasizing cleaning up, remodeling and home staging, it might leave you wondering how much you’re going to need to spend.

The quick answer: Invest as little as possible to prepare your property for sale. Of course you should de-clutter, clean up and repair everything that needs fixing, but what about remodeling the bathroom? Or, putting new flooring in the dining room? Or landscaping? Yes, those upgrades will make your home stand out and help get it sold, but will they put more money in your pocket at close of escrow? Probably not.

The idea is to make your home as presentable as possible without spending any money that you won’t get back. If you invest $50 to thoroughly clean a bathroom, put new fixtures on the cabinets, and paint it, you’ll likely get that back plus some.

But, if you spend $15,000 on a bathroom remodel, only to get $12,000 back, that’s a losing proposition. You not only lost money, but you wasted time and effort with the remodel. And, even worse, a potential buyer may not like the choices you made.

When the time comes to sell your home, keep in mind you don’t have to spend a ton of money to make your home presentable. Just make each dollar count!