18 Dec 2021

Selling your home is hard, and getting the maximum possible value from it is even harder. It can sometimes be tricky to understand what will squeeze more money out of buyers, but even the smallest changes and tweaks can make a huge difference to what you get.

Fortunately for our Chester County customers, we officially serve all addresses in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, including all homes and businesses within the community and surrounding areas.

If you want to sell your home for more, then start looking into DIY – specifically, the kind of DIY that can massively improve either the actual value or the perceived value of your house. But what kind of tricks can help you boost your home value without spending too much on a place you are about to sell?

Better Landscaping

Landscaping makes a huge difference to how your home looks and feels, especially if you have a large garden or yard. Not only can it completely change the style and shape of an outdoor space, but it can have a major impact on your home’s exterior, changing what potential buyers see.

You want your buyers to be hooked before they even enter your home. If the house looks bad outside but great inside, there is a chance that they will still not be interested and might even be turned away by a bad exterior design – one that would cost them money to fix.

The more appealing the outside of your home looks, the more control you can get over how potential buyers react. Adding a new path, adding a water feature (even if it is not turned on), or even just installing a bench in your garden can make a huge difference to the amount that buyers will pay.

Replace the Windows

Like landscaping, windows are a major part of what makes your home look nice from the outside, but they can also influence the inside. While replacing every window is extremely expensive and will cost far too much, focusing on replacing old dirty or damaged windows helps a lot.

If you want to go a step further, adding a skylight into a porch or other easy-to-modify room can massively increase the appeal of that room, which might win over some potential buyers. Something like a skylight can increase the value of your home before you have even had a chance to enjoy it yourself.

When a window is damaged, stuck, impossible to close, or otherwise a hassle, replace it. This might not make much of a difference during the showing, but it makes it much easier to keep windows open and a good breeze flowing when buyers are inspecting your home.

Add a Deck/Porch

A deck or porch can be a larger-scale DIY project, but they add something special that other additions can’t really match. You can make them look however you want, either with contractor help or by yourself, and they can increase your home value just by existing.

It does not have to be wood, either. Leftover flagstones or other materials can all help create a nice deck or porch area that offers you something new, and it will make buyers far more interested in your home even if the rest of it remains the same.

If this space is at the front of the home, this is even better since it might make buyers more willing to look into your home. On the other hand, a deck at the back can help nudge uncertain buyers into wanting the home, acting like a last-minute addition that pushes them into buying it.

Rework the Attic

An attic can have many uses, but a lot of homeowners completely ignore them and only use them as occasional storage. However, if your attic is large enough, you can turn it into a completely unique space and start using it as a selling point.

While there are quite a lot of steps to making an attic useful, like adding insulation and making the flooring safe, the end result can be a brand-new room – possibly even a bedroom. In the housing market, another room can be a massive value generator, giving you even more money.

For example, having that extra bedroom can open you up to more buyers, including people who might need one more bedroom than you originally had. Not only does it add far more value, but buyers are much more willing to take an interest and look at what you have available.

Replace Appliances and Fixtures

Replacing fixtures like your bathtub or shower can have a greater impact than you might think. A bathtub does not cost as much as you might expect – unless you are getting something fancy – but a brand-new tub might be the push that buyers need to lock down their purchase of your home.

Outdated fixtures and appliances might look fine to you, but a potential buyer may see them as a major problem. They will likely want to replace them anyway, which means that they are basically having to spend even more money to update the rooms that you left full of old equipment.

By replacing them ahead of time, you are not only adding more value to those rooms, but you are making buyers aware that you have a new, improved bathroom to work with. This can also apply to kitchens, especially since the kitchen and bathroom are both major parts of any home.

Do not be afraid to start upgrading your home like this. You can throw away the old appliances using one of our reliable and heavy-duty dumpsters, making it easy to swap them out at your own pace before you even put the house up for sale.