Planning on selling your home soon? Do you know it probably needs a few updates to sell for what you want? Here are 20 cheap home updates that will help!
* CHEAP meaning the more affordable option over a major project or renovation! *
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1. Freshen Up Kitchen Cabinets
If I had a dollar for every time a buyer said they wanted a “bright white kitchen”, I’d be able to pay for my next seller to paint their kitchen cabinets white. White cabinets are HUGELY popular, appeal to the most buyers in any market, make the space feel more open and airy, and are (obviously) a fresh and clean look for your kitchen. If you currently have painted cabinets that are need of a touch up or upgrade, consider painting them.
And while accent colors on cabinets are currently becoming more popular (at least in my market), if you’re selling try to stick to classic neutrals – grays, whites, etc to appeal to the most amount of buyers.
That being said, you don’t have to paint your cabinets. If you have beautiful stained solid wood cabinets, make sure the stain is touched up and you’ve given them a good cleaning.
2. Update Cabinet Handles
Such a quick and easy upgrade! Ever notice the beautiful modern/contemporary style handles in new construction homes? You can buy similar ones off Amazon for your entire kitchen for around $50 and completely change the look of your kitchen.
3. Add Extra or Spruce Up Outdoor Seating Areas
A simple bistro table and chairs will do, but it shows buyers coming through that they can easily entertain outdoors – something that is huge in my market! If you already have an outdoor space, consider updating pillows/cushions, adding a rug, and pressure-washing.
4. Update Outlet + Lightswitch Plates
If your home is anything like my current one, your switches, outlets, and faceplates are all a funny off-white and stick out like a sore thumb. The off-white makes them look perpetually dirty (even though they’re not), but thankfully they are easy and cheap to swap out with fresh white ones. Generally they are <$1 each at your local hardware store, and are fairly easy to replace yourself. But you can always call a licensed electrician to help you out!
5. Add Moulding
Nothing classes up a room like crown moulding. Especially in rooms with high ceilings, crown moulding adds that finishing touch to any room. No moulding? No problem. If you have some extra money to spend on home updates before selling, consider adding crown moulding in the main living area and master bedroom!
6. Add Curb Appeal
The front of your house is the first thing potential buyers see, so make sure it’s stately and welcoming. Add some extra plants to the porch or the entryway, paint the door, trim any trees, and check your shutters. Replace or repaint as necessary. Pressure wash your driveway, brick, and back patio. Touch up paint or completely repaint the exterior of your home. And jumping off that point…
7. Upgrade Your Landscaping
If you don’t currently have any flower beds out front, consider adding them. It ups the curb appeal to your home and make it feel more welcoming, and looks great in pictures! If you do have a flower bed, make sure the edging is looking good if visible, pull any weeds, replace dead plants, and add fresh mulch (ideally right before listing photos are taken). Depending on the season and your current landscaping arrangement, you may also want to plant some seasonal flowers for a pop of color or add some hanging baskets!
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8. Use Rooms For Their Intended Purpose
I know, I know. We sometimes uses spaces how we need rather than how they were intended, and while it can be a challenge to switch back, it’ll be worth the headache for a short time while you wait for your house to sell! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a formal dining room or spare room be used as a playroom or office. And I get it. I myself use our spare room as an office. It is completely understandable when you’re living there. But when you’re selling, buyers don’t want to imagine if their dining room table can fit if they’re distracted by a ton of toys, or imagine what size bed can fit in a particular room. In addition, repurposed rooms tend to mess up the general flow of the home, so best make each room appear as it was intended when preparing to sell.
9. Get Rid of the Popcorn Ceiling
If you have the time and patience, tackle this messy DIY. Otherwise, just ensure you’re ceilings are clean (dust likes to collect on the popcorn bits) and painted a nice fresh white. If your home was built in the 70s or earlier, be careful about asbestos!
10. Add Visible Storage
Example: If your bathroom is lacking a linen closet or cabinets, consider mounting a cabinet above your toilet – this gives potential buyers an obvious storage space for towels and such. Help potential buyers (as much as possible) imagine themselves and their belongings in your home.
11. Stow Your Personal Decor Items
I tell sellers all the time – home for sale design style IS NOT the same as your personal design style. Buyers want to easily imagine themselves and their belongings in this home, and that can be extremely hard to do when your beautiful family portrait collage is hanging on the wall. Personal items like family photos, name plates (kids rooms), and vacation souvenirs should all be packed up. The less personalized the home looks, the better. This is probably the hardest part of getting your home ready – I myself would have a TON of things to remove to get things looking nice for listing photos, so I always suggest doing a good portion of your packing BEFORE photos are taken. If it’s not used often, pack it up in a box and move it to a spare bedroom or garage. It is MUCH easier for buyers to look past boxes after explaining “My sellers are in the middle of moving so please excuse the boxes in [location]” than it is for them to try and ignore decor they may or may not like.
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Plus, it makes the move way easier – you’ll have less things to pack up and your future self will thank you!
12. Freshen Up Your Tile
In my current home (built in early 2000s), I have the same generic builders-grade tile on my counters, backsplash, floors and fireplace surround. It. Is. Everywhere. The floors alone would be a costly upgrade, but the rest wouldn’t be. Thankfully it is a rental but if you aren’t as lucky consider painting or retiling everything other than the floors and upgrading the counters.
If you have outdated tile in a bathroom or laundry room only, consider painting them. And don’t forget about grout lines – this amazing grout touch up is a lifesaver!
13. Upgrade Your Fixtures
Outdated polished brass faucets? Consider painting them or replacing them altogether.
14. Update Your Lighting
It is AMAZING how a new light fixture can completely change a space. Consider upgrading a few around your home and cleaning off others. Or, if you’re on a budget, consider painting them! Upgrading fixtures not in the budget? That’s ok! Ensure your light bulbs colors are consistent throughout the home, and are all working.
15. Neutral Paint
As mentioned previously, the less personalized a home the better and one of the easiest ways to depersonalize is to repaint. Pick a neutral white or grey to appeal to the most buyers – this (again) helps depersonalize, can freshen and open up a space, and gives the home a clean vibe.
16. Update Your Windows
I’m not saying replace the windows in your home (unless they’re old and broken), but I am saying give the frames a nice touch up painting and the windows themselves a good cleaning.
Remove any patterned drapes and replace with cheap light colored ones. Dust off your blinds or consider removing them altogether. Some agents also recommend removing your window screens, and while I’d also suggest this for broken ones or screens in bad shape, just ensure they’re clean!
17. Paint Older Bathtubs
Jumping off the “Freshen Up Unsightly Tile” point from earlier, you can also repaint/refinish your bathtub/shower! If you have an older home with avocado green, pink, or baby blue bathroom tile and tub to match, give it all a good painting.
18. If You’re Going to Spend Money, Start in the Kitchen
The kitchen is the #1 room that can make or break your home. Buyers tend to focus on kitchens in their search more than other rooms, so if you’re going to spend money upgrading anything, make it the kitchen. Newer appliances, granite counters, freshly painted cabinets, and a nice backsplash can completely transform your kitchen from blah to WOW. Plus, with these updates, you’re home will likely be able to complete with any newer construction in your area.
19. Pre-Inspect
Probably one of my favorite things to do in older homes just to prepare my sellers. In the buying process, your home is going to be inspected by a licensed home inspector. They will go through your entire home, top to bottom, finding anything and everything that is wrong with it. And they will 100% find problems.
To avoid surprises and fix any problems before your home even hits the market, think about spending a few hundred dollars on a pre-inspection.
20. Ask Your Realtor What Buyers Are Looking For
Then do those things! Unsure what buyers in your area are looking for or what to do to your home first? Contact your realtor and ask. They’ll be able to guide you through the process of preparing your home as well as the entire selling process.
I appreciate that you suggested keeping your wood cupboards instead of painting. For more than a decade, I had painted wood cupboards and doors. Every time a child or my husband kicked, bumped or had a back pack hit a door, a chip of paint fell off, exposing the previous ugly color. All I did was paint. I will never paint real wood again. Not ever!
I ADORE wood cabinets! That being said, some stain/wood choices may not be the best or most appealing, and may need to be changed. But I haven’t come across many in my time as a realtor that needed to be painted, so I tend to avoid having my sellers do that unless it’s absolutely necessary.
These “inexpensive “ items are very pricey to update. Paint, a few plants and decluttering are “inexpensive”. Your examples are a poor suggestion for someone who does not want a full renovation or landscaping project. Shame on you.
I appreciate the feedback! I did write this list knowing how expensive full renovations are, and while this list offers many cheaper alternatives and ways to update things around a home, I am certainly not suggesting to anyone to do all of them! These are just some of the more common simple fixes sellers can do (if they need and if they choose) to help update their home based on my experience as a realtor who has working with hundreds of buyers. It is really for those that have some money set aside for updates and are unsure of what to do affordably. None of these items involve spending more than a few hundred dollars at most, with the exception of adding landscaping depending on the size of the project and if you’d opt to use a landscaping company. And I understand that is still a lot of money. HOWEVER, if my seller doesn’t have the funds for any of these things or ability to do these things then that is ok too! I work with each and every client to determine the best course of action in order to price and sell their home as quickly as possible and sell it for as much as we can – that strategy is going to be different for each and every client/home.
I kind of felt the same way, especially like the landscaping photo. The home had been repainted, the roofline changed and a new roof put on. Shutters were added and a brink walkway. Those make the photo look great but are also way more than just landscaping to make a beautiful photo.
I do understand that you were just giving suggestions though and a lot of people in todays economy don’t have money for full renovation before selling.
I bought a property and I did exact what it says to do here and it looks beautiful . It does make a difference. The house looks beautiful compared to when we bought it. It has curb appeal. I painted the kitchen cabinets and got new hardware for them. We bought a new toilet sink mirror for the bathroom. The bathroom had to be replaced. We had to replace the fan and paint it. The only thing I didn’t do was remove the popcorn ceiling, but it looks really nice and it was well taken care of.
A few updates really can change the entire look and feel of a home! It sounds like you really have made this home yours!
We once sold a house complete with a full survey.
Any viewer was given a copy and it was added the cost was added to the final purchaser.
Very cool! A survey is so important for some homes for sure.
Recently I remodeled/redecorated my home . New wallpaper in every room, new velvet sofas, chairs in my fav soft teals, punks and whites, handcrafted teal mermaid tail backsplash, new pink/gold/ivory ceramic pulls on almond cabinets, and now, new lights/lmps inside and out. It is an entirely new home and so ME; maximalist, rokmanbtic, whimsical and elegant.
That sounds BEAUTIFUL! I love some fun and colorful elements in a home and have many fun design choices in my own.
Hi where can i purchase the dining rm chairs and hallway table, shelf/. Thank you
These are stock photos of items from several years ago so I’m having trouble finding them.
Great post! We’re looking to sell our house pretty soon, so this post is so relevant to me. We recently redid our front yard to improve the curb appeal. My husband is a civil engineer so he handled a lot of the designing process. It turned out beautiful and will definitely increase the value of our home.
Thank you! And how lovely! I’m sure that was a great decision, and as an avid gardener myself I’m always looking at gardens. I wish you luck when you decide to sell!
Ok you advised to paint the bath tubs and sinks can you point me on how do I go by doing that my self or who can I hire to do that for me oh and Thank You for all your good tips
Hello! If you visit your local hardware store or search online for tile or bathroom refinishing kits, you’ll be able to see the steps to DIY. From what I understand, it is a special kind of paint and prep, but is fairly easy to do yourself!
Very well written and true, thanks for the article. Simple and helpful.
Thank you!
Good tips but some (eg landscaping, lighting bathroom refresh) of the items could not be classified ‘cheap’, at least not here in Australia.
I’d imagine several items in this list would not be considered “cheap” to some, but to others they may be. I am a realtor in Louisiana in the US, and so I wrote this with that audience in mind. If certain items aren’t in the budget, then thats ok!
Remodled/redecorated my home 2023-24. Used my fav soft pinks, teals, greens and whites. EVERY room got new wallpaper all around w/ borders. Mixing antiques with traditional elements. Ripped out x’s drab brown backsplash and replaced with handcrafted teal mermaid tail tiles…AMAZING with my almond tall wraparound cabinets with pink/gold/ivory Etsy pulls, . Large dinette has oversized Anthro teal sofa with soft green velvet chairs, grieve waisncotting.Living room sports facing velvet teal sofas with Bergere chairs, House of Hackney stools. Master bd/ba has wallpaper w/ watercolor magnolia blossoms in pinks and greens. Crystal chandeliers in every room along with Mackenzie reader for whimsey. Ordered 6 chairs from Whimsey chairs, all in different patterns, based on pinks & teals. I get raves; so ME!!!!!!
Oh I LOVE that! I love some beautiful design choices in homes, especially when it’s done cohesively. I have some own fun design choices in my own home – I love funky patters and details. It sounds like you have such a lovely home!
Sometimes that’s not necessarily the case with sellers though, or the last time a home was renovated with more than 20 years ago, so when selling some updates are needed/highly suggested. I definitely never recommend completely removing all personality from a home when getting it ready to sell, but I do try and make it more appealing for a wider range of buyers to help my sellers sell their home as soon as possible. If that isn’t an issue for them and they are ok waiting for the right buyer to come along, then that works too!
Excellent suggestions. Thanks for such a comprehensive group of suggestions. I think you are spot on in your comments!
Thank you!
In last 20 years, my husbsnd’cs job has moved us three times to three different parts of the country governing different decor in our homes. Our homes have always been well maintained and beautiful. No one time other than a deep clean did we take down any personal items or move items out of the house to stage them. All three homes sold to the buyers at asking price and one well over asking pricing. The homes were all priced at market price for that time and area. All three buyers told us that main attraction to our homes were the fact they could really see and feel it bring homey in the true sense of real living. With that said, I don’t believe in the tale of staging with boring bland neutral tones, and blank slates for prospective buyers. Keep homey, comfortable and cozy with your family galleries in tact! You’ll be amazed!
That is amazing! Removing personal items is HEAVILY dependent on the market you’re in, what comparable homes are looking like, the amount of overall items a client has, and how personal they are. I’ve had some clients that have minimal items displayed (personal and not) that I’ve said can remain, but I’ve also has a client remove a huge gallery wall that spread over the entire stretch of a bedroom wall – floor to ceiling, wall to wall. It was more of an overwhelming thing than anything!
What a great amount of information to have. Even when you are buying. Thank you so much for the knowledge.
Thank you! I’m so glad you found the post useful!
I have a tile floor in the main bathroom and half wall tile besides scrubbing and cleaning it up to look new. How do you paint it and with what?
If you visit your local hardware store or search online, there are counter, shower/bath, and tile refinishing kits in a variety of options. The steps will vary depending on the brand of kit, but it will be a special kind of paint.
I disagree with your suggestion to paint/replace pink/baby blue/yellow tile and bathroom fixtures. These usually are found in homes built in the 1940s-1960s and are authentic to that era. If you’re looking at houses built in that time period, go for a mid mod bathroom!! Put some Formica with a boomerang design on the vanity. I get that real estate agents always want a low key palette to sell a house but if it’s a mid 50s ranch, with pink tile and a matching pink toilet in the bathroom, let it be what it is. The right buyer will value that and may pay extra. That being said, I doubt anyone will ever pay extra for popcorn ceilings. They were just a cover up for bad sheet rock mudding.
I personally ADORE colored vintage tile and funky features in a home, and you’re absolutely right. If the RIGHT buyer comes along who loves it, then that’s amazing! But if you’re in a pinch, having trouble selling, and have received feedback on the state of the bathroom design/tiles then some updates may need to be considered. I’ve seen some beautifully maintained vintage bathrooms in a wide range of colors, but I’ve seen some awful ones too. If the walls (paint or wallpaper) clash with the tile in some way, I’m the first to suggest updating the walls over ripping out tile!
Totally agree on the old tile bathrooms. The after example of this basically took all the charm away. It doesn’t look any better at all. And this stark white decor trend is not so hot at the moment. My house was built in 1953 and has a big bathroom with turquoise tile, yellow trim and yellow sinks, tub and toilet and it is super cool. It was one of the reasons I bought it. Sure, if the tile or tubs/toilets, etc, are in bad shape, renovate!
If i was going to spend all that money to up date I might as well stay in my house!
This list certainly doesn’t suggest doing everything, but some updating is necessary to ensure you get top dollar for your home when selling. You’d be surprised what things cause buyers to walk away from a home.
I am in my 12th house. Sold the other11 to the first person on the first day. Paint color is always Pot of cream, new light fixtures in all rooms including the hall, new bath and kitchen plumbing fixtures, white light plates and some had new carpet and some had dark bamboo floors. Only once did I replace kitchen and bathroom cabinets . A SPOTLESS HOUSE SELLS
Caution- we tried the special paint for our yellow bathtub and sink. It looked good temporarily, but only lasted about a year before it started chipping, peeling, and they had to be replaced.
Don’t forget about pet fur/dander, saliva smears, urine stains, litter boxes & food storage areas. The odors can be strong, and the seller oblivious. Check under floor vents, behind heat return vents, in duct work, cabinets, ceiling fans, curtains, rugs/carpets & even hardwood floors. Clean or replace items in affected areas.
Thank you for your checklist! I’ve been thinking about painting my wood cabinets, I will try your suggestions before doing so and really it was for the purpose of brightening up my kitchen. I will look at other features to help brighten up my kitchen. Frankly I don’t like the chalky look of painted cabinets
I recently sold my 25 year old home “as is” meaning absolutely needing a new roof, a new HVAC system, and with 1/2 of the house in the process of a remodel. This is what I did that still got me $30k *over* asking (and by “I did” I mean, I did, by myself, alone, at age 62 because I didn’t have anyone else to help me at the time. I did get some kids to help with the final lifting, but the majority of the work, I just dug in and did myself, so you can too!):
I DECLUTTERED like I was leaving the country never to return. Seriously I packed up my house and live with the bar minimums so it looked like a model home. Less furniture, NO coffee tables, limited side tables, Dining table had a small flower arrangement. Minimal Paintings on the walls, only abstracts or landscapes. Kitchen had a small NEW teapot (I don’t drink tea) on the stove and a toaster on the counter, that was it. Nothing on the fridge door or top. Nothing on top of the cabinets. All appliances were cleaned inside and out to look as if they were just purchased. Nothing in the closets, except 3 dresses -sweaters -pants- shirts, -shoes, less cooking tools -plates-items-etc. The book shelves had a FEW very nice books and a nice small sculpture or one plant, Bathrooms all had CLEAR shower liners, and tile had been absolutely scrubbed and grout had been made white again. Attention paid to corners and to all the caulking, repairs made to look new if needed. Two towels rolled like they do in a hotel and placed over a new spa tub bar (about $20), and 4 rolls of paper in the cabinet. Laundry Room was fresh and clean from new paint and new floor peel and stick tiles. Appliances were sparkling inside and out. Bedrooms: Carpets were steam cleaned. beds were made with new bedspreads I purchased from Marshall’s for under $20, I went with solid basic gendered colours for the two bedrooms that would coordinat with the colours on the walls and patterned toss pillows. For the owner’s suite I went with all bright white to contrast with the colour on the wall and to give it a more lux look with deep navy toss pillows that matched the arm chair in the room. I hired a crew of young men to come and give my front yard a good once over and to help me move some furniture around the back yard. They also helped me with the moving of all my boxes and furniture out of the house before the open house. My house was put on the market Sunday night. Monday I had 6 appt. for walk throughs. Tuesday I had 8 appts. Wednesday my agent called and said we were taking the house off the market because we had over 35 vetted offers, 15 over asking and 4 were currently bidding each other for it. By Friday the final buyer had said her would pay $30k over asking he just wanted the house. –A 25year old house without a roof, a house without an HVAC system, a house that still needed half of it to be finished. All in all the main thing is that house and yard were CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN.
I would never buy a house with painted over tile or bathroom fixtures. Won’t be long until that paint chips off. And it is very hard to get the paint smooth or not showing brush lines. Hate to have scruffy paint on bottom of tub that scratches your skin. If its beautiful vintage, keep it that way! If it is arse-ugly, replace it!
I am not an agent, but I think first start with new paint on all the walls and new or clean flooring. If it looks great after that, then stop. My husband and I also removed one useless kitchen cabinet and added 4 feet of cabinetry. We painted the cabinets, replaced all the hardware, and replaced the counter. As an added touch, we designed and built an open shelving unit to go over the new base cabinet (there were plenty of other wall cabinets (11+). The bottom shelf was a shallow ledge for spices. The two other shelves stored cookbooks (only the nice looking ones) and a couple of decorative items. The kitchen and that shelf were the most appreciated part of the kitchen. Additionally, we bought new dishes just for the table, a table runner, and candle with container that we filled with coffee beans. The table set-up cost us less than $100. And yes, we baked cookies the day of showings.
We’ve just sold our home. Most of your advice here is great. One piece of advice I do disagree on, however, is the neutral paint. When we were looking for a new home, neutral shades were a bore and actually, grey, in particular, is depressing. Some colour, gives a wonderful pop that makes a home stand out from the rest of the blah that’s out there. Colour actually helped in selling our home.
May I chime in as a currently looking home buyer? Please don’t stage your house like a bad flip. What equals a bad flip? Gray everything, LVP flooring, hastily painted kitchen cabinets in any color, the once formal DR now part of a too big kitchen, counter seating, floor tile that looks like wood, and any bathroom floor tiles repeated on the walls. All of these things are fine if you do them for your own enjoyment but please let a buyer have choices to make it theirs.
I think it is really sad that any personality needs to be removed from a home so that ‘the buyers’ can see themselves living there.
Any sign of painted tile or an all white and grey with display furniture in anything other than a new build would turn me off immediately.
Are we supposed to assume that the majority of people are so shallow and without style that they need to see ‘a blank slate’ to want to buy a house?
And, anyone who paints over anything that is solid wood just to sell a house should be ashamed of themselves. Yes, it is simple, but you know what isn’t simple, getting that paint off to reveal the beautiful natural timber again.
Great suggestions. My three level townhouse is on the newer side. Lighter neutral paint and immaculately clean 🙂 But the light fixtures were just terrible and didn’t co exist with my decor. After two years, I decided to have all of them changed . All LED lights. Modern and minimalist. No more changing bulbs. In most cases that was nearly impossible by myself. They look amazing. Light fixtures really do make a difference!
I have sold many of my “colorful” homes and even though I do par down and stage, I’m still a tame maximalist! My photographer said your home is cool but colors might be a problem. That home in particular sold in 6 hours after going on the market for full price! I would have to say replacing counters is your most expensive upgrade costing thousands not hundreds.