A Few Simple Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home Before Listing

The Weekly Recap

Good morning! The Fed unanimously decided to keep interest rates steady again after their most recent meeting citing lingering price pressures. Good news though-Powell made a great effort to relay that the central bank was not talking about raising rates. Republic First Bank (not to be confused with First Republic Bank) was seized by regulators. The new jobs report came out weaker than anticipated which is good news from an inflation perspective, Paramount and HSBC are both out a CEO and there’s a bougie new way to get to the Hamptons form NYC this summer.

A Few Simple Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home Before Listing

As we are in the swing of the Spring selling season, those people who are looking to upgrade their home asset or use proceeds to re-invest elsewhere, there are a few steps that as a seller you can take to increase the maximum value of your home. Focusing on just small details will help attract buyers and create urgency for them as they walk into your home.

Curb Appeal - I know this seems like a strange one if you own in a Condo or COOP because you can’t control the outside of the building or have unilateral control over the lobbies and hallways. What you can control is how nice your door looks and what it is that people are welcomed into when they open the door. Your child’s turkey hand cutout is a cute addition to your front door but it wont help it sell. Create a “wow'“ moment for people when they open the door by being as tidy as possible, organized and keeping the floors clear.

Painting- It is astounding what a fresh coat of paint to the interior of an apartment can do for a buyer as they walk in. It gives the impression that the home has been well maintained and cared for. Neutral colors give buyers the opportunity to envision what they would do with the space and can help bring continuity to a space that may have outdated colors throughout the home.

Lighting- Fluorescent lightbulbs are not the way to go when it comes time to get ready to sell. Replace all your incredibly bright lightbulbs with warmer tones that create a more welcoming atmosphere as well as cozy more intimate feelings for the space. Well placed lighting can also feature architectural aspects of the apartment as well as add depth and visual interest in the home.

Minor Repairs- Fixing cracked tiles, re-caulking the kitchen backsplash or the tiles in the shower, replacing broken blinds or torn curtains with newer inexpensive ones, removing old carpeting and re-finishing your floors are all small and cost effective measures to take. The return on this minimal re-investment will be tenfold. Taking care of the small things allows the buyer to visualize the big things, like what their lives will be like in the space.

Renovations- This is a tricky one and everyone has a different opinion about this. Personally, I am AGAINST sellers renovating kitchens or bathrooms before selling their home. With the limited exception of if they are in just completely horrendous condition and unusable. I say I’m against because any big renovation you do will be for you and catered to your aesthetic. Not everyone may have the same taste or style and allowing a buyer to come in to see the potential in a space can create excitement. It’s always good to get ahead of buyers construction concerns and be able to provide them with a virtual rendering of what a new kitchen/bathroom could look like and floor plans with adjusted spaces.

Market Performance

Here are how some other indexes and asset classes have performed as of this mornings opening bell.

NYC Market Update

Here is a view of new inventory that has come onto the NYC market over the past week as well as newly signed contracts in Manhattan.

Mortgage Rate Update

Mortgage rates increased again slightly for the fifth consecutive week. On average, more than one-third of home sales for the entire year occur between March and June. Even with a rate environment that is a tad higher than the beginning of the year, buyers have acclimated to these higher rates as recently released pending home sales data coming in is at the highest levels in a year.

News You Can Use

• Powell Says It Will Take Longer to Gain Confidence on Inflation Bloomberg

• Wall Street Has Spent Billions Buying Homes. A Crackdown is Coming. Wall Street Journal

• Fed Announces Reduction in Balance Sheet Runoff Pace Reuters

• Federal Reserve’s Preferred Inflation Metric Rose to 2.7% in March Financial Times

• Fed Says Inflation Progress Has Stalled and Extends Wait-and-See Rate Stance Wall Street Journal

• Brokerages Shift Fed Rate-Cut Expectations to September After Consumer Price Data Reuters

• What 60,000 Headlines Say About the Fed’s Next Move Bloomberg

• Family Offices Are Looking Beyond the Stock Market for Higher Returns CNBC

• FDIC says Republic First Bank is Closed By Pennsylvania Regulators CNN

• Swanky New Bus from Blade From NYC to Hamptons Announced NY Post

• New York City is Finally Getting the Street Life it Deserves Fast Company

The Deep Insight

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