Maintaining Your Home - Old or New

Septemer 1, 2022

Corey Ray & Scooter Gillis

Before After

Whether you’re buying a new home, selling your previous home, or simply looking for ways to update your current home, there are so many things you can do to give it new life. So let’s break this down and start from the first one.

Buying A New Home

Buying a new home is such an exciting time, but when you start to make it your own to match your personality, it can start to get overwhelming. Before making the decision to purchase your new home, it’s always a good idea to add updates to the budget. If there are certain portions of the home that you think look outdated, or there are costly repairs to do, you will not want to spend all of your budget on purchasing the home. This brings us to our recommendations on how to avoid some of the major pitfalls that home buyers experience when purchasing a home. As many of us know, today’s local market has been like nothing we have ever seen before. Because of this, many people are making the common mistake of not having a home inspection done. Without a home inspection, important improvements can go unnoticed and can leave you unsatisfied at the end of the day.

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Selling Your Previous Home

Selling your previous home is a process that most people will experience in their lifetime. Having a trusted real estate agent will take the majority of the stress off your shoulders. There are some things that you can do on your own, or your agent might recommend to you! A common mistake that we have seen sellers make is completing costly renovations, thinking they will go towards a large payout at the end, but may leave you feeling let down. Before you go ahead with a large renovation, let’s say redoing your kitchen, ask your agent beforehand. They will be able to advise you if this is necessary and even worth it in the end. Another oversight that happens is the opposite of what was previously mentioned. Not tending to necessary corrections can also be a big pitfall when listing your home. This is also something your agent will be able to tell you, so make sure before you make any decisions, consult your agent for advice on how to proceed. Staging your home can add to the value and aestheticism once it’s listed. There are a few different options when making this choice. You can either hire a company to come out and stage, stage it yourself with the help of your agent, or virtually stage it.

Staging a home can prove to be costly, which is why a lot of homeowners decide to virtually stage. While this will not have much of an effect during showings, it will help when potential buyers look at the listing photos. Even though walking through the home will not give this appeal, it can show the potential that the house has for the future. Once the potential buyer has the chance to walk through the home, they will think back to the virtual staging and see the options that they have to make these updates. Staging the home yourself with the help of your agent can be done as well, and includes renting items from a staging company or buying some decorations yourself. These don’t necessarily get sold with the home, especially if you’re renting the items, but it adds to the appeal as they walk through and see that it has new life. Rather than doing this process yourself, you can also hire a company to go through and stage the home for you. This takes the stress off of you, especially if you don’t have any design ideas, and they will take it all back for you as well once the home has sold. Whichever idea you decide to go with, they will all have the same effect on the potential buyers. They will show the plethora of possibilities that your home has, give new life to the home, and ultimately, add to the value.

Updating Your Current Home

Lastly, updating your current home is a fun process that can be done every few years, or as you see fit. If you’re not quite ready to go through the process of selling your current home and buying a new one, making some nice updates to the home you currently live in can leave you feeling rejuvenated and add to the value later on in the future if you do ultimately decide to sell. With home prices rising in our local area, renovating can be a good choice for the families that don’t have a large budget. You can give your house a new feel without breaking the bank, which we all would like! A good place to start is deciding which areas of your home feel outdated. Whether your kitchen needs some new appliances, the walls need a different color, or the bedrooms need some new decorations, there are easy ways to go about each. If you don’t have the designing type of personality, www.thisoldhouse.com/painting is a good website to help you decide which colors to paint the interior of your home. If you’re hoping to save some money, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, or many of the other countless sites out there can help you find new furniture and items for your home to go with the new colors you have chosen. Another great area to focus on is the exterior of your house. You don’t have to strictly focus on the interior of the home when trying to update it. Some new grass, a flower/vegetable garden, decorative rock, and cherry-colored bark can really add to the beauty of your home. Something else that is easily obtained, yet not spoken about enough, are fountains. The sites previously mentioned will frequently have fountains, varying in size, for sale. While they may be missing a part or worn down, it’s a great opportunity to have a fun renovation project! This way you can also decide to change color/style to better suit the personality of your home.

Maintaining your home every day will, of course, make it easier when you are ready to sell. But it will also help when you go to update it as well! There are so many options out there regarding ways to give you and your family a new home without having to break the bank. When the time comes that you’re ready to sell your previous home and buy a new one, make sure you have the right agent that cares about your wants and needs more than anything else and will fight for you! If you’re at the point of your life that you’re just ready to renovate without your financials taking a hit, use the tips and tricks mentioned above to help you make the right decisions for you and your family. As always, there are no right answers set in stone when it comes to your home, so focus on what you want and use that to guide you through the process.