Spring is a great time to start fresh by refreshing your home. According to Real Estate agent Doug Stewart of Shanahan Realtor Inc, spring is one of most busy times of the year for buying and selling a home. While this past year mortgage rates are making it a little easier on the pocket to ask for financing, still money maybe tight and selling may not be an option at this time. There are simple things you can do to improve your home and at the same time add some value to the property.
A few tips
- Add a fresh coat of paint to a room
- De-clutter and organize your space.
- Rearrange some furniture or stage your home.
- Clean up the front lawn.
♠A fresh coat of paint can wake up a room by adding texture and depth. It is both simple and affordable. Knowing what colour works with the dimensions of your home can open up a small space making the room bigger and lighter. Interior Designer Candice Olsen has great tips that are easy to follow. Check out her website and click the paint tab. Great resource for the home improver.
♣Toss it. Keep it. Sell it or donate it. These are the basic rules for de-cluttering your home or spring cleaning. If you don’t use it then toss it or have a garage sale. You can make it a block sale and invite your neighbours to participate. Nothing like a crowd around a table to attract the curious buyer. Don’t forget to smile and be helpful.
If you don’t want to sell it then give it a new home by donating it to charity. If the furniture is gently used check out the furniture bank in Toronto. They will make arrangements for pick up and they even issue tax receipts for the value of the item. There are some restrictions but it is worth investigating.
♥Then there is staging your home. This is usually recommended by real estate agencies if the home is going up for sale, but you can stage your home and give it that finishing touch after the cleaning, painting and de-clutter. Staging makes the home look bigger, brighter, and cleaner. Staging can consist of simply adding the right accent cushions to a couch or changing the window hanging for something of a lighter colour or adding a mirror in a smaller room to give it the illusion of having more space. There is so much you can do. Go to the internet and research staging a home. There are even professional stagers who come to the home for a fee and stage it for you or you can take a course at your local college and gather some tips.
♦Clean up the front yard. It is spring and things left from the fall and buried in the winter are still there. Get rid of the garbage, rake away the dry leaves and pull up the dry shrubbery. Great exercise and the weather is getting fine to work outside. Don’t forget the sunscreen, UV rays are still dangerous when outside for long periods even in this weather. Refreshing the home inside as well as outside helps to give you a new view to your home. And when it comes time to sell that property you can breathe easily because you are one step ahead.
Remember: simple things can add value to a home
Related articles
- How to Make Your Home Look More Expensive (freshome.com)
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