Maximizing Your Home’s Value With Minimal Upgrades

When it comes to achieving top dollar for their house, people are always surprised when we share how tiny changes can have dramatic outcomes. This is easier to understand with an analogy, like most things. Enter our Scottsdale Arizona clients in 2019. We visited the clients first to see their home and hear more about their priorities. Their home was bought in 2009. It was a lovely 3BR/4BA home on an exclusive golf course with a 1300 sq. foot casita and for $1.277m, they bought the property. They had two kids after buying the house, were expecting a third, and were at a point where they needed a home which offered more bedrooms in the main portion of the home.  The building was completed in 2000, and while the architecture and bones were fantastic, there were elements that were dated. After a detailed review, we decided that we could possibly sell the home for around $1.750m as-is. I then clarified that I figured we could list the home considerably higher if they made some small changes and worked to stage with a high-end designer.

The updates included painting a very subtle grey for the entire home and painting a grey that was not as light for all the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom. The cabinets were all a traditional maple finish that made it look like every other home constructed at the beginning of the 2000s. I also promoted a backsplash of white subway tiles that we also ended up doing and replaced the islands dark granite with a light grey fossil stone. We sanded the floors and refinished them to a dark shine. Such changes sound rather minor, but they have had a profound effect on the unit’s appearance and brought it up to current design trends and made the home feel comparable to its new construction rivals.  I encouraged professional staging to really de-clutter the home and show off the space, although their furniture was quite nice. With a nod to high architecture, we staged, and it really made the rooms stand out in the context of the competition.

So, what was the outcome? Just 28 days later, we listed the home for $1.900m and ended up selling it at full price. Needless to say, the customers were delighted and very happy to have put in the additional effort. Most people buy homes from the feeling they get the first time they walk through them. Although the changes may seem slight, they have dramatically enhanced the home’s aesthetic, which generates a lot of demand for the property and consequently higher sales price.