Using Your Senses To Sell A House

It seems like everyone noticed and felt the effects of the burst of the real estate bubble around 2008. For the next few years it was a great buyers market but horrible for many trying to sell their homes. Today we have seen a pretty steady increase in the price for homes and some are saying we're already getting into another real estate bubble. If you have been waiting for a good time to sell your home, this may be the time. Before you sell your home though you may want to consider a few things to get the most money out of your home.
When trying to decide what repairs to do before you sell your home think about how you can make the home look a lot nicer without spending too much money. One of the best ways to freshen up a house is with new paint. Most people are able to do a decent paint job themselves and are able to paint a room for $30 to $50. When picking out colors try to get something that is an earth tone and on the lighter side. This will make people feel comfortable and make the room look bigger and cleaner at the same time.
Take a look at your flooring also. If your carpet is very worn, outdated or has stains in it you may be better off replacing it. You can probably have all new carpet and pad installed for $2,000 to $3,000 or between $1 and $1.50 per square foot. Sometimes the darker earth tones add a nice contrast to the lighter walls and hide some of the dirt also. If you have animals you may not realize it but there is a good chance that the smell of your house reflects that. By changing out the carpet you may be greatly improving the smell of your house as well.
If your house has any lingering odder you may want to try to minimize that affect by the time you show your house. Airing out the house may be a good step especially if it has been closed up for a while. As stated before, new carpet will improve the smell also. To go an easy step further than trying to just minimize the bad smells you may want to buy air fresheners for each room or at least a few of the main rooms. Try to keep these out of sight or remove right before the showing so that the smell doesn't overwhelm the potential buyer nor alarm them.
Now that we have talked about sight and smell we may need to address sound. Depending on your location the sounds around your house may be positive or negative. If you live where you can hear things such as calm waves, birds singing, leaves rustling you may want to open some windows and allow the potential buyer to hear those things. If you live around noisy neighbors, a main street, or train tracks you may want to try to eliminate those sounds. To eliminate the sounds you can keep the doors and windows shut but also play some gentle music in the back ground.
By changing a few things around the house you may be able to receive a higher price or find a buyer sooner. There is almost always a few little things that can add value to your house without costing you thousands of dollars. By putting yourself in someone else's shoes and by using all of your senses you will be able to make the necessary changes to sell your house.