If you want to increase your chances of your prospects liking your house, you have to make it stand out from the rest of the pack.
Today I’ll be sharing some ideas on the things I do to make my houses stand out in the current Detroit house market.
Related: How to Buy a House in Detroit | 10 Ways to Negotiate Like a Pro
Let’s look at some ways you can improve the “vibe” and feel your house gives off to a prospect.
Kitchen
The kitchen is so important.
For just a few hundred dollars, you can probably make it look a LOT better.
For starters, clean it up really good. Just having the kitchen clean can make a big difference.
If you have a few dollars to spend, check out some of these other ways to make your kitchen look better…
Kitchen Updates
And if you want to take it a step further, do some light updating.
Cabinets. It doesn’t have to be extravagant or expensive. At least have cabinets and stuff that look like they were made on this side of the year 2000.
If you have a little money to spend, refinish them.
You can hire somebody to do it, or you can go on YouTube or Google to find instructions on how to do it yourself, if you’re adventurous, and want to save a little money.
Even if you don’t want to pay for new cabinets or refinish them, you can make them look a lot better by just spending a few bucks on some new knobs on the cabinets.
Faucet. Get a shiny faucet if you don’t already have one in the kitchen. Nice-looking faucets make great impressions on prospective buyers.
Light Fixtures. Another thing you can do is change the light fixtures to something more modern-looking and bright.
Kitchen Appliances. If you have a rental property, having kitchen appliances that match can “really” upgrade the feeling your kitchen gives-off.
Related: 14 Ways to Get Better Tenants in Your Rental Homes in Detroit MI
If I’m selling a property, I usually put new matching kitchen appliances in there, unless the buyer is buying it wholesale.
If it’s going to be a rental property, I usually go used.
But I still make sure the dishwasher, fridge, and stove match.
This is a small touch that can make your house stand out from the others; regardless of whether you’re renting or selling the property.
Related: 15 Ways to Find Tenants for Your Rent to Own Homes in Detroit Michigan
Bathroom
Clean it!
I’m not trying to be funny, but just start there.
Just having the doggone bathroom clean makes a difference in itself.
Toilet. Small changes, like replacing the toilet seat can make a small difference. If the toilet is ugly and old, replace it altogether.
Sink. For a couple hundred bucks, you can get one of those pedestal sinks that give the bathroom a nice updated feel. I love those things.
I’ve found that a lot of prospective home buyers and tenants like them, too.
Floor. So let’s say money is tight, and if you have one of those old-fashioned multi-colored tile floors.
You can throw some sheet vinyl right over it, without having to pull up the tile that’s there.
Shower. If the shower looks bad even when it’s cleaned-up, you need to address it.
One of the simplest things you can do, is regrout the tiles. You can do it yourself, actually.
Depending on the size of your shower, it shouldn’t take longer than four hours or so.
Replace Tiles. And while you’re regrouting the tiles, you may as well replace any chipped or damaged tiles.
If your tiles aren’t too old and outdated, chances are pretty good that you can find a few replacement tiles at Home Depot for a few bucks.
A regrouted shower with cleaned and replaced tiles can make that shower area look like-new.
By the way, if you don’t want to do it yourself, for $300 or so (including materials), you should be able to hire someone to come in and take care of the regrouting and tile replacement stuff for you.
If you want to get away from dealing with the tiles altogether, you can install a prefabricated tub surround.
If you’re going to do this, though, you need to be really careful that it fits correctly.
If it doesn’t, the water can get between the wall and the surround and can cause mold, and you don’t want that.
Bottom line, you probably don’t have to spend as much as you think to make the bathroom look a lot better.
Den –> Bedroom
For the record, I’ve never done this one myself, but it makes sense, though.
Anyways, you might want to consider changing your den into another bedroom.
Increasing the number of bedrooms you have will improve the value of the house.
Related: Flip Detroit Homes | Here Are 11 Things that DON’T Improve Your House’s Value
Plus, you might get more tenant and buyer prospects, now that you can promote it as a 4 bedroom and 2 bath, instead of a 3 bedroom and 2 bath.
What is a Den, You Ask? A den is similar to a living room, but it’s usually bigger than a living room.
The living room tends to be more formal, and is hardly ever used.
If you’re going to change the den into a bedroom, there’s a good chance that you’ll have to convert the living room into your new den.
Or, of course, you could just go without having a den altogether.
Price of a Den Conversion. Anyways, for $1,000 or so (for the drywall installation), depending on how big you want it to be, you should be able to add a closet to your den.
After all, the only real difference between a dens and bedrooms, is that bedrooms have closets, and dens don’t.
I’ll finish up on this in part two, coming soon.
What do you do to make your houses stand out from the competition? Leave a comment.
