9 Ways to Build Sweat Equity to Boost Your Home’s Worth Before a Sale

If you’re going to sell your home chances are that you want to make sure you can get top dollar. Here are some sweat equity projects that can help you increase your home’s value before a sale.

When home buyers and sellers come to the negotiating table, all of the little things can add up – on either side of the table. In the home buyers mind, they are seeing any items that need to be fixed, replaced, repainted or updated. Home sellers are seeing the intrinsic and often indescribable value in the home in addition to its monetary worth, expressed in memories, functionality and other positive associations.

Selling Your Home? Maximize Profits with Sweat Equity Projects

As a seller, you want to get as much as you can from the sale of your home, but you have to be realistic. Buyers haven’t made the positive associations that you have with your house (at least not yet) so you have to demonstrate its worth in physical aspects of your house that they can see. One way to do this without spending a lot of money is to invest “sweat equity.”

Sweat equity is defined as:

“an interest or increased value in a property earned from labor (hence, the “sweat”) toward upkeep or restoration.” Investopedia explains further that “Sweat equity is contribution to a project or enterprise in the form of effort and toil… value-enhancing improvements made by homeowners to their properties.”

Increase Value with 9 Sweat Equity Projects Before Selling Your Home

1. Update Lighting Fixtures

Dated light fixtures can be a letdown for home buyers. Updating your home’s entry, dining, bathroom, kitchen or master bedroom fixtures with the type of fixtures they are seeing in current magazines, catalogs and HGTV and other home renovation shows can make your whole home look newer in the buyer’s eyes. This is an area where you don’t have to spend a lot to get a lot of bang for your buck.

2. Repaint

If you have touch up paint, go through each room in your home looking for scrapes, scratches, nail holes and any other defects a simple brush stroke of paint can do away with. Repaint bold-colored rooms or trim with neutrals that will be appealing to a majority of home buyers. Repaint the trim around your entry way and home’s exterior. Repaint or re-stain your deck and wood trim areas.

3. Purge – Ruthlessly

You’ll make your home’s storage and rooms feel huge by minimizing the amount of “stuff” they contain. Let go of items you no longer need through garage sales, donations and dump runs. Pack away personal photos and momentos that you’ll take with you to your next home. Give prospective home buyers a chance to imagine their photos and possessions on your walls and display shelves.

4. Lighten Up

In addition to replacing dated or dark fixtures, you can also take off heavy window coverings and replace them with light-colored sheers, shades or blinds. Especially on the windows of your home that allow for the best views.

5. Stage the Scene

Don’t assume buyers will be able to pick out your home’s best features. Put the spotlight (maybe even figuratively) on those aspects of your home and yard that you want buyers to notice. Sometimes this is about taking your things out; other times it may be about opening up curtains and blinds, turning on cove lights, under counter and other special lighting or positioning your furniture to maximum effect.

6. Make Obvious Repairs

Broken or split deck boards, dings or holes in the wall, scratches on cabinets and floors – any small item left unrepaired brings the perceived value of the whole property down. Walk through each room of your home with a roll of blue tape and place a small piece anywhere your home needs some TLC to prepare it for sale.

7. Focus on First Impressions

Mow your lawn. Power wash sidewalks and driveways. Weed the flower beds. Trim hedges and trees. Your home’s exterior is its most powerful first impression and it’s one area of your property where “sweat equity” may be all that you need to invest to make it look its best.

8. Make It Inviting

Once potential home buyers walk in your front door, prepare an inviting entry way. Make it obvious what they should do next. Leave some candies or chocolates and a welcome sign on the kitchen table or island. Turn on the lights throughout your home in a way that makes it attractive and inviting. Make sure that your powder room is appointed for guests (because sooner or later someone touring your home is going to need to use it!)

9. Clean… Clean… CLEAN!

Your home may not be brand new but it can still have that “brand new” clean. A dirty home makes people feel uncomfortable, makes the home seem neglected and devalues it in the mind of home buyers. Kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms – everything needs to be clean. If you’re not up to this part of the sweat equity list, consider hiring a professional, because this is another area where a fairly small investment can make a big difference.

If you’re a home seller who will soon be a home buyer, once your home has been sold, we would love to tell you more about the home loan mortgage programs we offer. Feel free to reach out to our office with your questions about home selling or buying – we’d be happy to help.