If you’re preparing to sell your house or just thinking about it, you’ll want to put your best foot forward. It’s no secret that the Hawaii real estate market continues to perform favorably, but that doesn’t mean you can just sit back and put your house up for sale and expect smooth sailing. Even in a strong market, there are some basic items you’ll want to take care of before you try to sell.
It should come as no surprise that homes in better condition will sell more quickly and at higher prices than homes needing repairs or general upgrading. If your Hawaii home has internal bedrooms (that don’t have windows), rusted jalousie windows, tile counters or old vinyl flooring, you’ll probably face some push back from buyers. They’ll either offer less for your house, pass on it altogether or go into contract only to ask for a price drop while in escrow.
Your budget will determine what you can afford, but here is a list of what I consider either “must”s or “if it all possible”s if you really want to give yourself the best chance of a quick, high sale. Everyone has heard “kitchens and baths” sell homes and that’s definitely true, but here are a few others you might otherwise overlook.
Front Door
Why is it so important to have a great front door? Impact. It’s one of the first things your buyers will see. Having a new steel front door in an appropriate color (ex. Behr’s Awning Red) can really make a bold statement and set expectations.
Flooring
Why is flooring so important? There’s nothing you touch more in your house than your floors. Tile, carpet, laminate, hardwood – every step is a physical connection to your house, so make it a pleasant experience for your buyers. Skip the cheap vinyl tile if you can and check out today’s new vinyl wood laminates. If your budget allows for it, choose a plush carpet with quality padding, high-end 8-12mm wood laminates or even an engineered hardwood. Trust me — you can feel the difference under your feet when you’re walking on quality flooring and so will potential buyers.
Home Technology
It’s 2016 and technology continues to take over our lives, right? Well, it’s not all Matrix and Terminator — there are many ways technology can enhance our home life.
1. Installing a home climate system like Nest can be a real attractive selling point because you can cool off your house in advance of arriving home on a muggy Hawaiian afternoon.
2. I’d also suggesting checking out a Bluetooth remote entry system like August which lets you enter your home without fumbling for keys and also lets you remotely allow people to enter your home, like dog walkers, plumbers and more. I’ve seen them at Apple stores and elsewhere.
3. How about smart appliances that connect to the internet for easy recipe lookups, weather checks, Pandora music and more. Imagine walking into a kitchen and seeing a monitor on your refrigerator playing videos from the Internet. That’ll impress buyers! These are not required, of course, but will surely make buyers’ eyes perk up.
4. Of course, let’s not forget about security. Instead of a system costing in the thousands, why not check out a much less expensive yet fully functional system like SimpliSafe? I use them in all of our projects – they’re inexpensive and very easy to implement. Buyers will love the feeling of security and overall attention to detail.
Even if the rest of your home isn’t quite up to par, buyers will appreciate these extra bells and whistles that your competition — the other houses for sale — likely does not have. This doesn’t mean buy smart appliances if your bathrooms are completely trashed. If your home is quite the eyesore, then spruce up the basics first and then add in the above recommendations/sizzle features.
Of course, these recommendations cost money. If you need to sell your house and don’t have the available money to make it shine for today’s retail buyers, then consider selling your house to an investor like us instead. We can make you an “As Is” cash offer that won’t require you to put a dime into the property. Just fill in the form below and let’s talk about what we can do for you.