Surprising Ways to Up Your Home’s Price
Expert tips on how home sellers can get the most value out of their houses.
This spring is predicted to be a great time for home-sellers, according to Waltham-based real estate broker Anthony Lamacchia. If you’re putting your house on the market, are you putting your best foot forward?
While newly remodeled kitchens and bathrooms are pretty obvious ways to up your home’s value, Boston.com asked some local realtors about some of the more “out of the box’’ factors that interest today’s buyers.
Here are surprising factors that increase home value:
1. Name-dropping
Sheryl Simon, a Weston-based real estate expert at Benoit Mizner Simon & Co., said mentioning that a famous athlete, CEO, or politician lives in a neighborhood can cause a house’s value to skyrocket.
“This one house had a tough time selling,’’ Simon said, “But then a broker mentioned that a ballplayer owned it, and it became a house three people were in a bidding war over.’’
2. Walkability
Lamacchia said in the last 10 years, he’s noticed more buyers showing interest in whether a home is in walking distance of restaurants, shopping, and other neighborhood attractions. “There seems to be a greater interest in health and fitness,’’ Lamacchia said.
3. Wall color
“Now, everything is gray and white,’’ Simon said of the current trend in wall color. She advises sellers to ditch the burgundy and hunter green walls that were “in vogue’’ over a decade ago.
“When you can bring buyers into something trendy and something that’s ‘in,’ it adds a surprising element,’’ Simon said. “They can visualize themselves living there.’’
4. Playgrounds
You don’t need to buy your own swing set to attract buyers with children, Simon said. If you live within walking distance of a recreational playground, your property has added value.
5. Name-brand appliances
“There’s a surprisingly high return for higher-end, name-brand appliances,’’ Simon said. “It affects the interpretation of buyers for the quality of the house.’’ She said many buyers seem more interested in a property if it has name brand Sub-Zero refrigerators or Wolf commercial grade stoves.
6. Incentives
Simon said she sold one home by convincing the seller to include their furniture as an incentive for the prospective buyer, who was relocating to Massachusetts from Hawaii. “You have to separate yourself from the pack,’’ she said. “Sometimes that’s by price, sometimes it’s something else you have to throw in.’’
To make a different sale, Simon once threw in an incentive to pay for the new owner’s first year of property tax. “That got the phone ringing,’’ Simon said.
7. “Window dressing’’
Simon said adding window boxes or flowerpots to the front of your home are a cost-effective way to make the exterior of your house more inviting. “Before people want to get in to see your house, they have to get past the exterior,’’ she said. Adding a pop of color by painting your shutters or front door can also help attract buyers.
8. Staging
“De-personalize it,’’ Simon said to home sellers. “Get rid of your papers and junk and stuff so that it’s appealing to the next buyer.’’ This can be achieved by hiring someone to stage your home. Home stagers offer services ranging from de-cluttering to bringing in furniture and accessories, depending on price.
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