Is it a good idea to renovate your stairs before selling your home? It goes without saying that if you’re selling your home; you want to get the best return on your investment.  This is why people renovate just before listing in order to best display their home and its assets.  There are numerous television programs dedicated to the “art” of selling or even flipping homes and invariably one of their key areas of focus is the staircase.  This is because they know that a relatively small investment on home renovation can easily increase their home’s value by tens of thousands of dollars.

Renovate the Right Things

You can’t just do a renovation project blindly by not having a clear plan. You have to renovate the right things. This way, you can be sure that you’ll renovate the things that can help you increase your home’s appeal and value.  Here are the things that you should renovate:

Front Yard

First impressions are very important and as far as your homes’ exterior is concerned the front yard and front of your home are the definition of curb appeal.  Fortunately for most, this is very easy.  Try to imagine that first impression of your home from someone seeing it for the first time.  Enhancing the simple details such as maintaining well-manicured lawns, trees and flower beds will make your house feel like a home.  Always make sure the front yard is clean and uncluttered, going even so far as to keep bicycles and cars neat and organized.  Also, consider the fact that it could take some time to sell and consider planting flowers early to help set your home apart in the unfortunate circumstance when time could drag on.

Stairs & Entry

Once a buyer enters your front door, your second opportunity at a first impression occurs.  Your entry is, in fact, the first and last impression of your homes’ interior.  A well designed and installed stair system is a great way to help potential buyers choose your house as their new home.  Contrarily, outdated, worn or insecure stairs will have the opposite effect.  Stairs and railings are often one of the finest pieces of permanent furniture in your home, they can be used to impress upon buyers the overall quality and design of the home itself.  Updating your handrail is a simple way to revitalize your home in a highly visible and important area.  With the wide range of stair parts available, you might decide to replace the entire balustrades or perhaps replacing balusters will make the difference.  In fact, you might just consider replacing wood balusters with wrought iron balusters using a retrofitting shoe.  These small changes can have a huge impact.  The value of updating old, worn out designs and parts to transform your staircase and banister into a deterrent to an encouraging feature of your home is almost always far greater than the cost to replace the system.  Whether you want to encourage your home to sell faster, for more money or both, your staircase is an excellent remodeling investment.  Best of all, installing stair parts is typically very easy and with a little do-it-yourself skill, you can install them yourself.

Kitchen

Like most kitchens, yours has probably seen its share of abuse through the years, so a minor renovation project is necessary. You don’t need to do major renovations.  Often this involves just a thorough cleaning, minor repairs and touchups.  Occasionally you may need to replace stained or damaged tile, cabinets (which may be as simple as refinishing) and checking the plumbing and appliances to ensure they are sound and running correctly.

Bedrooms

One of the first things that prospective buyers will consider is whether or not they will enjoy sleeping in your home.  This is why they’ll check the bedroom. Make sure that your bedroom is always clean, inviting and tidy.

Bathrooms

Assuming that your bathroom is not completely outdated, a major renovation is unnecessary.  The most important factor here is to make sure everything is clean and shiny.  Soap holders, mirror spots, toilet rings and the floor should look and smell new.  If needed, toilet seats or the toilet itself can be replaced relatively inexpensively.   Finally, the tiles may need to be replaced as well depending on how clean you can get them.

Without major remodeling, these few simple areas can be enhanced to help you sell your home quickly and at the best price.  These simple renovations will add value that is far larger than the associated costs in most circumstances.  Remember to keep everything clean, especially floors, baseboards, windows, mirrors, kitchen and bath.  Also, keep the yard and the rooms tidy and with as little furniture as possible.  This will encourage buyers to image uncluttered and minimalist rooms with their own furniture and decorations.  Less furniture and clutter also makes the rooms appear larger than they would with additional, unnecessary pieces.  So, consider renovating and cleaning these few areas then watch as your home increases its value, you won’t be disappointed.