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DFW Real Estate
DFW Homes
Fort Worth HomesDFW Real Estate Articles: 2008
The Kitchen is King!
Kitchens sell houses! More than any other room in the house -- the kitchen demands your attention and commands your respect. The most trafficked room in the house, the kitchen is seen by your visitors more often than any other. It's an important center of high-quality family time and represents the very heart of your home. Homebuyers will spend a great deal of time looking at and pondering over your kitchen. This means a wise seller must strongly consider how the kitchen will be seen and the impression it will make. See to it that this Royal Room gets the royal treatment when it comes to preparing your home for sale.
Look around the kitchen for strengths and weaknesses. Build on its strengths and plan to improve the other. Sometimes a little bit of adjustment can make a world of difference. Of course, some things may require a few dollars and some work-time to improve. The pay-off may surprise you however... actually making you money through a higher sales price as well as increasing your chances of a quick sale!
Don't plan to spend a fortune on major remodeling just before you sell, but do consider the following if the need is really there:
Each kitchen will vary, and I'm not recommending this in wholesale fashion, but if one or more of these could apply in your situation, why not look into the possibilities. For example, if you have a used-up dishwasher in an otherwise beautiful kitchen, why not replace it with a new builders grade model? That could put your home on top of the list with a buyer who's ready to make a decision. If it's only dirty, simply clean it. Buyers will judge the cleanliness of your entire home by the kitchen and the baths. Perform a detail cleaning on the oven... both inside and out. Make sure the trash compactor is clean and fresh too. Knock down the cobwebs and clean the windows inside and out. Be sure the floors are REALLY clean and if you have vinyl flooring, use a shine coating on them for an almost new appearance. Get the pet food dishes out of the kitchen and remove old rugs or floor mats. Hang a new coordinating towel on any installed hangers.
Sometimes, just replacing all of the kitchen lightbulbs with higher wattage units will make the entire room look much better. Don't get too carried away... noone should have to breakout their sunglasses. If there are 10,000 notes, magnets and papers stuck on the refrigerator... you may need to thin-it-out a bit. You can put it all back on (if you like) AFTER you move. For now, try to drop that number down to a handful. Generally, clear off the countertops... choose only a few attractive decorative ceramic or glass pieces to set-off the room. Ad a coordinating framed painting or other wall decoration that compliments the room. Also, an impressive vase of fresh flowers is always in style and can add immensely to the atmosphere.
Give your kitchen it's high place in the overall scheme of your house and watch it continue to reward you with the very comforts of home and perhaps the best return on investment of any home project for your time and effort.
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