Simple spruce boosts equity

If you are getting ready to sell a home take some time to apply some elbow grease and you could pocket serious extra cash. The first thing to do is change it from a home into a house.

The advice is to spruce up and get the home looking as good as possible to make an irresistible package for a prospective buyer.

Whatever its current value, your home can be worth much, much more. With a minimum of effort and expense you can increase the value of your property by as much as five per cent, 15 per cent, perhaps even more.

The gain is quite dramatic even if you have a smallish equity in the home. For example, if your house is now worth $100,000 and you have an $85,000 mortgage, your equity position is $15,000. An increase of 15 per cent in your selling price, to $115,000 would double your investment to $30,000, a 100 per cent return.

And don't forget that the profit you make on your principal residence is tax-free income. Most B.C. homeowners would have to earn well over $20,000 to clear $15,000 after taxes.

Got your attention? Good, then let's get to work.

• First take a frank and critical look at your home and bring along a cynical friend. Detach yourself from the warm fuzzy feelings about it being a home and look at as a house. The way a potential buyer will look at it.
• It will take a determined effort to turn your home into a house, but the place to start is on the 'curb appeal.' This cannot be stressed too highly. There are many sad tales of expectant vendors waiting for a buyer to show up and only to see him or her speed away after a glance. (Admit it, you did the same when you were looking to buy.)
• With your new critical eye, walk out on the street and look at the house, the roof, the siding, the landscaping, the walks and the clutter.
• Get the message. It is all important. What you want to depict is a well-kept house and yard that is easy to maintain. The lawn and garden are important. Many people buy resale houses rather than a new house simply because of well-established lawns and mature plantings.
• This critical appraisal should be done weeks before you call in a Realtor and list your home in the Real Estate Weekly. A dose of fertilizer on a wan lawn will take that much time to make a difference. If the house needs a coat of paint and probably the single most effective equity booster and it will take awhile to choose and apply the paint.
• If you can't afford to paint the entire house, concentrate on the front entrance including steps and the front door. Virtually any potential buyer will pause here to look around before they make the commitment to walk across the threshold. From there, the sale is much easier.

Good luck with the sale of your home.

You can print this page out for future reference.