26 Inexpensive Updates Before Selling Your House
Using my 13-page guide, you can sell your house for profit while spending less on inexpensive updates.
Imagine what you would do with a bit of profit from selling your house.
Pay off your student loans?
Increase your savings account?
Take a much-needed vacation?
A home has the potential to empty your savings account from repairs or replenish your bank accounts when you sell.
The small details in your home matter. You want to invest strategically in your home. You don’t want to spend your savings on a kitchen remodel to figure out that the bank appraiser doesn’t care. The price that you spend on home improvement projects does not always translate in value when selling.
Don’t waste your money. Invest in a few inexpensive upgrades instead.
My Story
My name is Marika and I am the creator of Home with Marika.
Four years ago, my husband bought a 1960s home that had been on the market for 6 months. No one bought it because it was outdated and they saw how much work would be involved in it. Being a first-time home buyer, my husband wasn’t scared of the challenge. Over the course of four years, we slowly updated details throughout the house.
not our forever home
Knowing that it wasn’t our forever home, we wanted to limit how much money we put into the house, not knowing if we would get it back.
We never did any structural changes to the house.
We couldn’t change the ceiling height, the floorplan or the bathroom size.
We didn’t have the time or the money to spend on any major home renovations so we updated the small stuff.
the competition
Our city was growing quickly so there were a lot of new construction homes popping up. Our competition was new construction homes with white walls, open floorplans and updated bathrooms.
So how could we get a buyer to choose to buy our older house over a new construction home?
Updating the small details
Our 1960s home already had character but it needed some modern updates.
For example:
The shutters were a forest green so I painted the shutters a matte black to give the brick ranch a modern vibe.
The entire house was one color of beige so we repainted the bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen to neutral grays and blues. We also repainted the baseboards white to give it a fresh clean feel.
We had 60-year-old original wood floors but we added new black floor registers to go with our modern theme.
We replaced the gold door handles throughout the house to silver to make sure that doors actually locked.
Lesson learned
The small updates matter. Long story short, we sold our home in 24 hours and over asking price.
If you invest wisely in a few inexpensive upgrades, you can also make profit from selling your home. Spend your time and money on the small details that matter, like we did.
Imagine paying off your student loans or a car because you implemented a few strategic updates.
What are 24 cheap updates that you can do yourself?
Print off this printable checklist.
Do you want a step by step guide for planning your inexpensive updates?
With proper planning, you can invest in your home and make profit off the investment later.
Check out my 13 page guide.
Included:
4 Pages of Ideas
4 Individual Room Plans
Budget Breakdown
Expense Tracker
Blank Customizable Room Plan
Editable through Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (free).
Before You Get Started
Print of the blank plan specific to each room.
Write down all of the updates that you notice in a particular room. Prioritize the top three updates that would make the most impact.
What’s your budget? Check out my budget breakdown in my 13 page guide for help determining which projects would fit into your budget.
Do you have the time? Don’t add more stress to your schedule when you don’t have the time to complete a project. It is better to keep your sanity during the selling process than to stress yourself out.
When is the deadline? Determine when you need to get the project done by, then make an appointment in your schedule to get it done. Don’t just leave it on a list on the fridge. Schedule a time to make it happen.
What supplies do you need? Write down everything that you would need so that you can get all of your supplies in one trip.
What if you don’t have a lot of time?
If you have to sell your home quickly, pick 1-3 updates that you can do in the living room or kitchen. They say that a living space and kitchen sells the home. If the buyer can’t envision themselves living in the house then how updated the bedroom or bathroom is will not matter. Focus on the main rooms.
Most of the updates listed are less than 1 hour of install/project time. Painting will take the longest, depending on the size of the space.
What are the least expensive updates?
All of the ideas listed above are less than $75. Check out the Budget Breakdown for a diagram.
If you are looking for the items under $25 to update in your home it would be: mulch, outlet covers, shower tub caulk, lightbulbs, curtain rods, plants, welcome rug and window blinds.
Items under $50 would be: door handles, floor registers, vanity hardware, light fixtures, front door lock, and sink faucet.
The only project above $50 but under $75 would be painting. The cost would depend on what supplies you already own and the size of the room. If you’re just painting the baseboards of a child’s bedroom, it’s a small space and can be done with few supplies.
Do you need to keep receipts?
Yes! Keep track of all the costs for the project to write down on your expense tracker.
Be sure to give the appraiser your updates list so that they can determine what your home appraises for.
We gave the bank appraiser a list of all the updates we did on the house the past two years before selling it. Don’t forget to include big items such as HVAC, sewer repairs, outdoor upgrades, electrical work, smoke detectors etc.
Conclusion
By investing in a few inexpensive upgrades, you can spend less money on your home and sell it for over asking price!
Print off the step by step guide to help you make profit from selling.
ready to start cleaning before selling?
print off these two cleaning checklists
