Even the best of homes typically require quite a bit of work to get them ready to sell.
And then if you’re trying to make your house more family friendly, that work usually increases – from more attention to certain aspects of staging to different marketing tactics.
Making your home more family friendly is an important part of preparing for selling your house. Home sellers tend to focus on just the general decorating and cleaning of their home. While these efforts are important, they aren’t going to easily make your home sell faster and for more money. There are things you can do – many of them free or low cost – that can make a big difference when you’re trying to sell a home to a family.
Here are 5 things you can do to make your house more family-friendly when listing on the Boston MLS.
1. Deep Clean and Declutter Everything
Listing your home for sale? Declutter! It’s a fairly simple concept, but many homeowners don’t truly comprehend how decluttering can make their home more attractive to buyers. Many times, families think that they need to have their personal mementos scattered throughout the house in order for it to feel like “home” for their children. However, to most buyers, these mementos make a house seem cluttered and difficult to move through.
Whether you’re trying to make your Boston house more family friendly or not, some things will always remain the same in your preparations – deep cleaning and decluttering, for instance. It’s just that these become even more important when you’re striving for family friendliness.
Decluttering is one of the most important parts of staging a home for sale. Even the tidiest homes still need to be decluttered a bit to make them ready for the market because every piece of décor affects how your home feels. Thin out the items on your surfaces and pack away as much from your closets as you can to visually expand these areas.
Deep cleaning is also a must. Even if your home is maintained regularly, home buyers will be looking at everything and even the smallest things like a dusty vent or dirty baseboards can be off-putting to buyers. Deep cleaning will add a lot of value to your home, especially if you are planning to move out shortly or if you are selling an inherited property. Make deep cleaning a priority when it comes to getting your house ready for sale.
2. Take Care of Electrical and Plumbing Issues
Homebuyers with children and people planning to start a family are much more likely to purchase homes with updated or modernized interiors that have new features such as larger bathrooms, updated kitchen, and a home office. Typically, families with children use bathrooms and the kitchen far more heavily than child-less homeowners. To make your house more family friendly, then, you must take care of any electrical or plumbing issues and make sure these systems are in tip-top shape.
You should begin by replacing outdated fuses with circuit breakers. And make sure all outlets are properly grounded and install ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlets where they are required by code. One of the best ways to make your home more child friendly is to add outlets that have child safety covers.
Every outlet should meet the National Electrical Code (NEC) standards and have a GFCI. Also, installing baby-proof outlets is a good idea to appeal to families with very young children.
In addition, make sure that all toilets flush properly and don’t leak around the base. Rebuilding a toilet and replacing the wax ring between its base and the floor is an inexpensive repair for a home seller. Make sure all drains work correctly.
3. Make the Pool Safe
Many buyers with families want a home with a pool. But they also want a pool that is safe, that doesn’t present a danger to their children. So to make your house more family friendly, make sure the pool is safe that doesn’t present a danger to their children.
It may seem like an easy fix, but many accidents occur in and around the pool because it’s too deep, or the ladder to get out of the pool isn’t close enough to the edge of the pool to make it safe. And many times, buyers don’t know about these dangers because it’s not disclosed in your appraisal.
The most popular and reliable safety option for a pool is a mesh fence. It will satisfy most safety codes, and the average cost is about $10 per linear foot.
Another option to make your house more family friendly by making the pool safer is a pool safety cover. The typical cost for a cover is about $1 to $5 per square foot. And not only does a cover make the pool safer for children, but it also serves as a barrier to keep leaves and other debris out of the water.
4. Create a Neutral Blank Palette
All home buyers, but especially buyers with children, want to be able to envision your house as their home, to imagine it filled with their belongings and them living there. So a great way to make your house more family friendly when listing on the Boston MLS is to create a blank palette that will allow potential buyers to do just that.
The first task on your home staging to-do list is to neutralize your décor. Industry pros always strongly recommend neutralizing everything and then accenting with some subtle pops of color. This will make your home appeal to more buyers and let them imagine their own décor in its place.
The second task on your home staging to-do list is to remove your personal items. Personal items such as family photos, awards, or kids’ art are reminders to buyers that they are walking through a stranger’s home. This is very uncomfortable for most people. This sense of discomfort affects how they feel about the home and makes them rushed to leave.
5. Market Appropriately
Now, after having done all these things to make your house more family friendly, you need to market it appropriately. And this means pointing out and playing up the features and amenities that will appeal especially to buyers with families.
Some examples are:
- A location within or near a top school district
- Being situated on a quiet street or cul-de-sac
- Proximity to parks and restaurants
- Low crime rate
- Large backyard
- Smart technology that contributes to both security and comfort
- Plenty of square footage and bedrooms
Consult Your Agent Before Listing on the Boston MLS
Finally, to make your house more family friendly when listing on the Boston MLS, be sure to drop us a line at NextHome Titletown Real Estate! Our agents have a thorough understanding of the local market and will know exactly what will most appeal to buyers with families. So if you’re ready to sell and want to make your house more family friendly, contact us today at (617) 657-9811.
Boston and Beyond – Just Hit the Market!
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