We contacted
our realtor to set up a walkthrough of our property. He sold the house to my
husband five years ago and is a family friend.
He noted some updates and changes we needed to make to get top dollar. We
immediately contacted our contractor to get started on the work. The townhouse
was built in the 90s. It had laminate counters and white appliances. The
cabinets are in pretty good shape. We didn’t plan on doing a full kitchen
remodel so we purchased simple granite counters and stainless steel appliances.
We had to be comparable to newer townhomes on the market that have granite and
stainless steel. Ceramic tiles were
added to the kitchen and bathroom floors before my husband moved. That saved us
a ton. The house was in pretty good shape so we didn’t have to invest a lot of
money, just a bunch of small things.
Townhouse
Kitchen Before:
Townhouse
Kitchen After:
Here is a list
of things we updated before putting the house on the market:
- Added granite counters and stainless steel appliances to the kitchen
- Pressure washed, restrained and repainted the deck. (The previous owners painted the deck which was a headache. The paint was badly chipped.)
- Replaced wood under window frames (The wood frame under the windows on the back of the house was rooting.)
- Repainted the basement
- Wiped down all the walls
- Major house cleaning
- Hired Stanley Steamer to clean the carpets. (we tried to cut costs by not replacing the carpets)
- Washed light fixtures that were dusty.
- Fixed a broken bathroom fan
- Repainted the front door frame and trim
- Repainted the garage door frame and trim
- Cleaned up the yard. (I attempted to plant flowers… Total fail! I purchased flower pots instead)
- Uncluttered the house. (Purchased a storage unit)
- Replaced broken toilet
- Fixed drywall from a busted pipe that we fixed years ago
Major Key: Having our realtor walk through the
property before we put it on the market was a big help. We fixed a bunch of
small things that the home inspectors would’ve noticed. We ended up saving time and money. When the
home is under contract the state (MD) requires licensed contractors to complete
any improvements. This is fine for some but for small things like we had
non-licensed is just as good.
