Before you list your home, there are a lot of things to take care of: packing, moving, staging, showing. But the most important thing is understanding your home’s current appraisal value – and then trying to make improvements to increase that number as much as possible.
Appraisal value vs. Market value
First, what is appraisal value? It’s an objective assessment of your home’s value completed by a licensed appraiser. Compared to market value, which is based on more subjective opinions like the scarcity of listings, the trends in your area – this number is what lenders use to approve or deny home loans… so it matters more than you think.
Increasing your home value for appraisals
Increasing your appraisal value is directly linked to maximizing your profit from your home sale. Here are 4 ways you can increase your home’s appraisal value:
- Mind your curb appeal: Make the first impression count by removing dead trees, trimming branches, and cleaning up landscaping.
- Take care of necessary maintenance: If you minimize the work for prospective buyers, you maximize your profit. Make sure your HVAC, electrical and roof are all up to date and address any outstanding code violations.
- Modernize your interior: Look at your home through the eyes of a buyer: would they prefer older carpet or new luxury vinyl tile or hardwood? Curate your home to appeal to the modern buyer to increase your home’s value.
- Increase your living area footprint: This can be as simple as repairing to increase livability or as large a project as constructing an addition or finishing your basement. Increasing your living area drives up your property’s value overall.
Whether your listing needs interior or exterior repairs or improvements, Curbio and your Realtor® can work together to make the pre-listing home improvements that will have the most positive impact on your profits, without sacrificing your home selling timeline. Learn more about how Curbio works.
