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Selling Your Home. Stuff You Shouldn’t Sweat

In the last post, I talked about how small fixes can help sell your house – things that are worth the sweat equity you have to give. There are some improvements, believe it or not, that you shouldn’t sweat – things that don’t add enough value, or things that actually take away from sale-ability of your home. Here are a few.

1. Major renovations. Most of the time, you won’t sell a home faster because of major renovations. Adding a bedroom, creating a gourmet kitchen, or installing a hot tub probably won’t make much difference to your average buyer, and you may actually price yourself out of range for the neighborhood where your home is located.

2. High end carpet. It’s a great idea to replace dirty, worn, or dated carpet. But when you pick out the replacement, don’t choose the most expensive grade or brand on the market. A new carpet looks new, no matter the price, so a buyer will get the look and feel of your house at its best. But whether you install new carpet or not, a lot of buyers will immediately change it, and get their own new flooring with the color, style, and brand that they want to match their new home.

Note: Sometimes, if a carpet isn’t too far gone, I encourage my clients to give buyers a carpet allowance. I just staged a home for sale in Durham, and I had a flooring company give carpet samples for prospective buyers to see. It gave This gives the best of both worlds for a savvy seller – and buyer.

3. New appliances. Whether you are leaving your appliances in your home or taking them with you, take a serious look at the units to see if they are so bad that they overshadow the good points of your kitchen. If they don’t, new appliances aren’t important enough for someone to want to seal the deal immediately. If you feel you must replace them, consider renting for a week or two, or buying nice used models. (Craig’s List is a great place for this!) You don’t need to install dishwashers and everything else to improve your home. You just need to do enough to get it to sell.

4. Retiling. If you have problem tiling spots, don’t retile the whole room. Give the tile a good scrub down. Remove and replace dirty or broken caulk. Then, replace cracked or chipped tile.

5. Pool. Many years ago, a pool was a hot selling point for a home. Today, most people don’t need or want pools. The expense, the liability, and safety concerns will actually keep some people from even considering a home that has a swimming pool – and in some cases – even a hot tub.

So – even though it’s hot in Chapel Hill – don’t sweat it. Concentrate your energy and your resources on things that will give you the biggest return in selling price – and in a fast sell.