KITCHENS SELL HOUSES WHEN STAGED and UPDATED!
Almost everyone has heard the saying that “kitchens sell houses.”
Kitchen renovations are expensive and time-consuming. If a buyer thinks they will have to re-do the kitchen, they will most likely turn around, walk out and buy the house up the street, or reduce their offer considerably to compensate for the work and financial burden ahead. As the home seller, you obviously want to avoid these scenarios. Here are some suggestions– from the ground up– that are sure to help your kitchen heat up that potential sale!
FLOOR/FLOORPLAN
- If the floors are outdated, peeling, or torn, it affects the look of the entire space. As a basic rule, if the countertop is granite, the floor should be a more expensive material such as hardwood or tile. If the countertop is laminate, the floor can be vinyl or peel-and-stick tile. Always try to stay with neutral brown, tan or gray for versatility.
- Limit or eliminate extra rolling carts and free standing storage units, as these take up floor space and will make the room smaller. This also screams to a buyer “WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH STORAGE IN THIS HOUSE!”
- Whenever possible show the kitchen as an eat-in kitchen, even if a café table is the only table that will fit in the space. Buyers should be able to envision themselves enjoying a meal in the space– and your Realtor can list your property as having an “eat-in kitchen”.
CABINETS
- An inexpensive solution to cheap or outdated cabinets is simply to paint or stain them. It is time- consuming, but it will get the house sold faster and for more money. In a small kitchen, white cabinets always work well. They make the kitchen feel clean, brighter, and larger, which all help sell your house.
- You can’t talk cabinets without mentioning the hardware. Nothing says 1988 like bright brass handles.
- Even if you do not re-do the cabinets, new handles can dramatically modernize the space.
- When listing your house, EVERYTHING needs to be clean and organized. The cabinets and drawers will be opened by house hunters. If the cabinets and drawers are unorganized and full of clutter, it again signals to buyers that you do not have enough storage in the house. The more organized you appear, the more confidence the buyer will have that they will be this organized if they buy this house.
- If you are lucky enough to have a pantry, showcase it as an asset by facing the labels forward, putting the boxes together and hiding any pet food or treats.
REFRIGERATOR
- Clean off the top of the fridge, this also tells the buyer you are lacking storage.
- Remove all the magnets (clutter), photos (personal) and calendars from the front and sides. When staging any room de-personalizing is crucial, as you want the buyer to see their family living in the house (which can be pretty difficult with your baby’s sonogram picture or daughter’s kindergarten artwork hanging on the front of the fridge.)
- Clean the inside of the fridge; many buyers will look inside and they do not want to see a science experiment growing on 2 week old leftovers.
COUNTERTOPS
- I usually do not recommend replacing countertops, it is expensive for most budgets. The least expensive way to update a countertop is to sand and paint it. (You can ask your home improvement store how to accomplish this).
- The less on your countertop the better. The rule of thumb when staging is to limit small appliances to two. This will make the entire kitchen feel larger and show off as much workspace as possible.
- Stage with a few cookbooks, fresh fruit or clear canisters with dry goods. Again, less is more.
- If you have a garbage disposal, cut up a lemon and run the garbage disposal before an open house. The entire kitchen will smell clean and FABULOUS!
PAINT
- Nothing will make buyers run the other way faster than WALLPAPER. Wallpaper is very personal. It is like a piece of art, and not everyone will appreciate what you chose to put on the walls, especially if the wallpaper has been there for more than ten years. We all know removing wallpaper is a painstaking. Home buyers do not want to tackle this project. Remove the wallpaper and paint a neutral color but NOT white, which comes across as very cold and uninviting. Staging is about making the home warm and welcoming. Paint will clean and modernize the room, and take a huge project off the buyer’s list of when considering reason not to buy your house.
LIGHTING
- I saved this trick for last, as it is the main kitchen change I recommend. Changing an old brass light fixture is the easiest way to bring a modern feel to any room. A small chandelier above the kitchen table will cost about $70 and make the entire kitchen feel updated. It also serves as an anchor for a more modern attractive dining area
