Barbara Corocan's 5 new tips for homesellers

Zac Bissonnette
Updated

Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran appeared on the Today Show to offer people who are hoping to sell their homes five tips on making their homes more marketable. Sellers who have already watched their homes plunge in value be hesitant to pour in another nickel but with the amount of inventory on the market, you have to make your home measure up. But here's what she had to offer:

  • Make tiny repairs to the front: mulching, trim the lawn, and put a few window boxes near the front door. That can cost somewhere between $50 and $100

  • Make your front door look attractive: remove it, paint it with a high-finish car wax -- that'll cost a couple hundred dollars.

  • If your house has bad windows, replace the windows. That'll cost $350 per window. You won't recoup all the money you spend but it may make a sale happen faster.

  • Move your laundry room out of the basement

  • Buy a stainless steel refrigerator. If you do that, everyone will assume the new kitchen is a little more modern. It only costs about $800.

The one thing to be extremely careful about is over-investing in remodeling to try to increase your home's value. The latest research shows that remodeling efforts do not pay off in added value: Focus on minor changes that make your home show better and above all, keep it clean.

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