Your home is your biggest investment. When it comes time to sell you don't want to leave anything on the table; especially when others are pulling out all the stops.  With markets trending towards balance, sales are no longer automatic bidding wars. Sellers need to do what they can to make their property look its best and appeal to buyers. First impressions are crucial and even the little things can make a huge difference. When a prospective buyer walks up to your home they see it differently than you do. You've made that walk a million times and maybe don't see the little things that might turn off buyers.  Even more likely is you do see those things but just haven't gotten around to them yet and that's fine- when you're not selling. Most of us fall into the trap of thinking that buyers will see past the small stuff or that they will see it as an opportunity for improvement. Here's the thing though; buyers don't see past it and they don't always have a vision for what they might do about it. It's up to you to show them. People don't pay for potential, and why should they? They're not going to put in the work to realize improvements and pay you, beforehand, for that privilege. It's simple: the one who does the work of creating value is the one who reaps the reward for it. Be the one who creates value and put the reward in your own pocket. 

The small things represent the highest return. Sure you could do a full kitchen reno but that's a big outlay and a lot of time and resources. What I'm focusing on here is making sure that buyers don't walk up to and through your house adding up a list of deterrents as they go; many small things adding up to one big thing: that other house they saw earlier was 10k more but turn key, no headache on top of the stress of moving. The average buyer is more likely to spend more for having less to think about after the fact. The reality is of course that the 10k higher price doesn't reflect the cost of improvements but the value of them.

The key to accessing that value and putting it in your pocket on closing is knowing what items give the best return. Your eavestroughs may need to be cleaned as per regular maintenance but unless there's a tree growing out of them this is not going to impact buyers first impressions. A regular staging service is a great tool but most often does not cover repairs, junk removal, or outdoor presentation. So too a handyman service just sees tasks apart from presentation value; they know what needs fixing but not what necessarily what is going to impact buyers view of your home, or the return vs cost and aesthetics. That's why you need someone with a combination of skillsets; someone who understands both presentation aesthetics and the practical technical side of property maintenance, and sees them both through the lens of real estate value. 

To date the best example of my own work was one of my early projects. I had purchased a vacant lot which had been on and off the market for years, never attracting a buyer. The place was a classic example of great potential hidden behind a few small flaws. No buyer looking at the site could envision their home on the land. It was hard to see from the road through the treed frontage and it was unclear where this property ended and the side and back neighbours began.  Most real estate agents advised to put in a culvert and start a driveway. But that would involve a significant cost and effort of installation and new road access permits. And then what would you have? A gravel strip in a field; hardly a clincher for prospective buyers. For less cost and hassle I realized that I could bring clear definition and vision to the site which would inspire buyers. I pruned the treed frontage; limbing up the trees so you could see through them into the property. I mowed the ditch and cleared the undergrowth so the front looked like an actual yard. I put in a small picket fence along one side of the yard so people could see where the property ended. This all for a few thousand dollars. Now it looked like somewhere you could build a house! That property which had sat on the market for years then sold in weeks and for double what I paid.

Don't leave it up to buyers to see the potential in your home. Chances are they won't see it and even if they do they certainly will not pay you for it! Make your home present well and put the reward in YOUR pocket!