New Year’s Resolutions for Your Home

Making a New Year’s resolution is nothing new. Most of us have done it at one time or another. Making good on that resolution is another thing.

“The statistics on how many people actually follow through and accomplish their New Year’s resolutions are rather grim,” said Forbes. “Studies have shown that less than 25% of people actually stay committed to their resolutions after just 30 days, and only 8% accomplish them.”

This year, making a promise to yourself to make improvements to your home—that might be a resolution you can keep! Here’s where to start:

Declutter

If the idea of decluttering is giving you anxiety, think about it in smaller chunks. Split up your home into different spaces and tackle one per month, getting rid of anything that you don’t use, don’t need, and don’t even like anymore.

If you have 12 rooms, you have the perfect ratio of spaces to months in a year; if not, you may have to do some combining or adjusting. Once you've figured out the schedule, get it on your calendar. Studies show we’re much more likely to follow through with an activity that way.

Catch up with Home Maintenance

The broken ice maker. The rattling air conditioner. The chipped fireplace mantel. It’s all the things that drive you crazy—or that you have to pretend you don’t notice so you can maintain your sanity. Make 2022 the year that you tackle those to-do items. Which leads us to our next item:

1. Prioritize

You've been dying to redo the bonus room, but updates in the kitchen will add the most value. Of course, the bathrooms also need do-overs, and you can probably do two or even three of them for the price of the kitchen reno.

So.
Many.
Decisions.

When you think about all the things in your home that need fixing or redoing, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and default to doing nothing. Here’s what helps: sit down and make a list in three columns: big fixes, medium fixes, little fixes. Now give them a priority number, based on what you really want, need, and can pay for. Seeing it on paper—or on screen—should shed some light on what you can do, and in what order.

2. Keep up with Home Maintenance

Once your home is in pretty good shape, establishing a maintenance checklist can help you keep it that way. A maintenance checklist outlines the systems and components of the home that should be checked on an annual, semi-annual, monthly or weekly basis,” said HGTV.

3. Improve your Curb Appeal

You don’t have to completely overhaul your yard to get it looking great, nor do you have to do everything at once. It might only take a good cleanup—raking, pulling weeds, pruning trees, trimming bushes, and painting the front door—to get it in pretty good shape. Now add some fresh flowers by the front door and you’re good to go.

4. Ask for Help

Many common home maintenance tasks will make sense to do yourself. But call in the experts for big repairs that require the services of an experienced and certified worker or that needs a permit. If you try to perform maintenance tasks on something you do not fully understand, there is a high chance that you might make the problem worse and it could end up costing you more. Do not take risks when it comes to maintaining your home.

Bottom Line

Often times buyers don't visualize living in your home the way you do. And, because buyers are searching primarily for homes on-line, they rely heavily on photos and virtual tours to decide what homes to schedule for a walk-through. With minimal expense, you can present your home with its best first impression, which is key.

Need help with decluttering, staging, pre-inspection, paint recommendations or vendor referrals? No worries...with professional seasoned vendors, preparing your home to enter the market is one of my specialties. When helpful, I will share with you how you can highlight your home's best features by making repairs or minor improvements, staging, or even simply painting the walls, to maximize your net return.

If you're considering buying or selling, now may be the best time to put your plans back into motion. Contact me today to get the process started. I'd love to help!

Jean Scott Realty