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When selling your Orlando home to retail buyers, they don’t want to update, touch up, re-carpet, repaint, etc.

They just want to move their things in and start enjoying that wonderful Orlando lifestyle.

If you have a limited budget for pre-sale improvements and aren’t sure where to spend it, my suggestion would be to update the kitchen and bathrooms above all. [Unless your roof is leaking or AC doesn’t work, then obviously these repairs would go to the top of the list]

However, If you need to sell your Orlando home for top dollar then make sure that your kitchen and bathrooms are looking tip-top. 

Make Your Kitchen Look It’s Best

For today’s picky home buyer the kitchen is absolutely the most important room in the house. This is a space where appearance and functionality are equally important. Homebuyers see the kitchen as a room with many functions such as food preparation, sharing meals, going through mail, or just hanging out with friends making frozen margaritas.

Independent studies have shown that 90% of potential home buyers said that the condition of a home’s kitchen is a huge consideration when deciding on whether or not to submit an offer on a home.

A full kitchen re-model usually doesn’t make sense when you get ready to sell unless the numbers are there and you know what you’re doing. Usually, all it takes is a bit of deep cleaning and up-dating to bring out the best in your current kitchen.

Painting- Slap on a fresh coat of paint to brighten up those dingy walls. Painting is relatively cheap and is the easiest way to revive any room in the house. Stick with neutral colors so that buyers don’t get turned off.

Countertops- If you have old school Formica countertops or old outdated tile, think about putting down some new tile. It’s pretty inexpensive and makes a world of difference in the overall appearance of the kitchen.

Fixtures- Get rid of that old chrome faucet that you’ve had for the past 10 years and replace it with something new and stylish. Consider the appliance colors when choosing a new fixture.

Cabinets- Getting new cabinets will add several thousand dollars to the cost but there are other alternatives. Staining your old cabinets a different color or even painting them white will give them that brand new look, especially if you change out the hardware as well.

Bake cookies- If you do an open house, bake some cookies so that potential buyers can not only see the functionality but smell it as well. BTW, do not use this technique in the bathrooms… LOL!

Bring Out The Best In Your Bathrooms

Almost as important as the kitchen to potential buyers, bathrooms should never be overlooked when trying to sell your Orlando home for full market value. Although bathrooms are much cheaper to remodel when compared to kitchens, you could still end up spending more than you have to if you don’t make a plan.

Replace the toilet- Unless you can make your existing toilet look brand new, replace that old toilet. Nothing is a bigger turn-off than an old and tired-looking toilet. Don’t give it a second thought, just get rid of it and leave the sticker on it so buyers know that it’s new.

Cabinetry- Just like the kitchen, you may be able to re-stain or paint if needed to give it that brand new look.

Fixtures- If your fixtures look worn out and tired, replace them. It doesn’t cost much and makes a huge difference in appearance. The same holds true for the light fixture.

Warning: By following the advice outlined in this blog post, you could fall back in love with your home and end up changing your mind about selling!

Having an appraisal done on your home before you sell can put you way ahead of the game. It will also help you to avoid pricing your home incorrectly which could result in a much longer stay on the market. Or worse… selling your home for less than what it was truly worth.

For a relatively small investment of around three to four hundred dollars, some homeowners will have an appraisal done on their home prior to putting it on the market.

It’s always wise to have your Orlando real estate agent do a comparative market analysis [CMA] on the house you’re about to sell. However, although a CMA can be pretty accurate as well as a great pricing tool, an appraisal is an independent and unbiased opinion that can be a great reinforcement in supporting the price you’ve set on the home.

It’s never a good practice to set your price higher than you know that your house is worth and slowly lower it until it sells. These days this approach can hurt you as many buyers search for homes according to the listing price they can afford. A home shopper has no way of knowing that you’re actually willing to go much lower on your listing price and if you don’t meet their price criteria, they won’t give your house a second thought. Also, if your home sits on the market for a long time with several decreases in price, potential buyers may think there’s something wrong with it and that’s why it’s not selling.

Appraisals go quite a bit deeper than any CMA report. Appraisals take into consideration everything from the features that a home possesses to the proximity to schools and shopping centers. Appraisals should also include precise data about the current status of the local real estate market which will provide realistic expectations when selling their home.

Appraisals can also utilize a cost approach which is useful for determining the price of a new home that is built to the same specs as an existing property. This is especially helpful for newer homes hitting the market by letting sellers know what competition they’re up against on the new-construction scene.

What’s Included In The Appraisal Report?

An appraisal report can range in length from three or four pages to over a hundred, depending on the comprehensiveness of the report. It will include details about the house, neighborhood details, and a list of comparable properties in the same area. An appraisal should also contain an accurate evaluation of the area’s local real estate market conditions in addition to any major problems that exist with the subject property that may affect its value.

How Is An Appraisal Completed?

Appraisals are basically an opinion of value that is determined by comparing your home with other similar homes that have recently sold. Once the appraiser has completed a preliminary report, he can then factor in upgraded features as well as needed repairs to come up with an even more accurate determination of value on your property.

How To Read Your Appraisal Report.

Your primary concern should be the negatives found in the report. By focusing on the items that have had a negative adjustment on your home, you can come up with a checklist for things you may want to fix or update if it’s within your budget.

Should You Get An Appraisal Done Before Listing Your House?

Although it may be a good idea to get your home appraised before listing it for sale, it’s not a must. By hiring an experienced Orlando listing agent, you can get all the information you need to list your home accurately for free. A good listing agent will provide you with more than enough information on comparable properties, and market conditions and many times will be more familiar with an area than an appraiser will.