Author: torlys

Deciding to sell your home can be an exciting time but without a plan, it can be stressful! Making choices of where to invest your time and money back into your home to increase its value can be difficult. Before you put your home on the market, you’ll want to ensure you are getting the most out of your investment.

But before beginning a slew of renovations on your home, do some research on the market. If this is your first time selling a home, ease into it and educate yourself. Your home is likely your biggest investment, so it’s worth doing some research to get the most out of it.

3 Tips for Selling Your Home

1. Know the market

You’ve likely heard people refer to the real estate market as being best for buyers or sellers.

• In a buyer’s market, there are more homes available than homebuyers. This gives potential homebuyers an advantage.
• However, in a seller’s market, there are more home buyers than viable properties available. This is when you can relax a bit.

If it’s a seller’s market, making renovations is generally considered a must. Ask for the help of a realtor to determine what the market trends, their predictions, and what is or isn’t selling in your neighbourhood. If you have some time, hold off until the market is best for you and your home.

This also includes knowing your home’s selling point before and after renovations, and calculating how much those renovations will cost. Homes in certain neighbourhoods might sell easily because of their location, while others need some special touches to attract buyers.

2. DIY (what you can)

To get the most bang for your buck, tackle renovations that you can do yourself or with the help of friends and family. Hiring contractors to get the job done can be costly, lowering your chance of getting the best return on your investment. However, make sure you don’t take on a job that’s too big or complicated!

3. Know your home’s worth

One of HGTV Canada’s go-to contractors, Bryan Baeulmer, says that depending on how old your home is, doing no renovations at all could be the smartest route to take. He says old homes requiring complete renovations can have hidden problems that blow your entire budget. This leaves you with no profit or less money in the end. If this is your situation, put your home on the market for a little less.

Not doing any renovations might prevent you from cashing out short-term, but it could also save you from spending money on large, hidden issues. To avoid this, we recommend updating your home from time to time rather than waiting until the entire space needs a remodel. Keeping your home in good shape will help you in the long run.

How to Best Spend Your Money When Selling Your Home

The best thing you can do when selling your home is highlight its assets. Choose renovations that will boost its value while skipping over those that won’t add to your home. Potential buyers may steer clear from your home if they see a need for renovations — even if they’re easy to do. Complete these simple projects on your home to make it move-in-ready.

Here’s a list of low-cost renovations that can easily increase your home’s value:

1. Paint

A fresh coat (or two) of paint can brighten up your home, making it look new, clean, and livable. Choosing the right neutral colours can also modernize your home and make it appeal to a larger crowd, while using a colourful palette may alienate potential homebuyers.

2. Backsplash

Adding a new backsplash to your kitchen or your bathroom gives you a chance to add some new design elements to create a stylish space. Tiles and grout are generally inexpensive and can be installed without hiring expensive contractors. Try it as a DIY project and see how much of an impact some new tiles can make.

3. Basement

Finishing your basement makes the most of your home and adds livable space. Families need room for kids and their friends to play, or even a quiet space for parents to relax. Basements can serve as playrooms, offices, an extra TV room, or even another bedroom. Adding some drywall, paint, and finishing the floors makes a huge difference. Use the product filter on our website to find the TORLYS floors that are best for basements.

4. Home staging

Staging your home to appeal to potential buyers has proven time and time again to be a great way to sell your home faster and for more. Home stagers use furniture and décor to maximize your space and help buyers imagine themselves in a clean, new home.

You can choose to hire a professional stager or, if you’d rather, stage your home on your own. To do so, start off by depersonalizing your home, decluttering, and emptying out all closets and cabinets. Buyers want space and storage, so making it look like you have plenty will make them think your home is bigger than it actually is.

5. Professional photographs

When it comes to real estate, investing in professional photography is important. All listings are now posted online, and potential buyers are always clicking through the web, hoping to find their dream home. Digital camera shots or cell phone pictures just aren’t good enough to make the best of your space. Low-quality photos make a space look old, dingy, and unappealing.

For more on this topic, read TORLYS blog about small home renovations that can pay off big time.

The Importance of Curb Appeal

Spruce up your curb appeal to have potential buyers impressed before they even enter your home. Depending on your budget, you can do either small updates like fixing your front gardening and painting your front door, or something a little more extravagant like building a front porch or repaving your driveway.

6 Simple ways to improve your curb appeal

1. Simple, groomed landscaping
2. Outdoor lighting
3. Large, modern house numbers
4. Freshly painted front door, window trims and railing
5. New front porch
6. Smooth, crack-free driveway

If you’re preparing to sell your home, make sure you do everything you can to get the most for its value. As many people’s largest investment, it’s worth the extra effort to make changes to your home before selling. We hope you found these tips on knowing the market, the importance of doing the work yourself, and taking the time to understand the market to be helpful while you prepare to sell your home!

Header Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash

It’s March, which means Spring is right around the corner and, most importantly, winter is coming to an end! Our clocks jump forward, we’ll stock up on Easter goodies, and everything around us becomes spring-oriented — except inside your home. Just because you’ve taken your tree down and stopped turning on your Christmas lights doesn’t mean your home is ready for spring. Fear not, TORLYS is here to help you plan and carry out your spring cleaning!

Step 1: Put Away Winter Decorations

If you haven’t already (and no judgement here!), it’s time to put away your tree, bring your reindeer lawn decorations into storage, and take down your front door wreath. And yes, the hardest one of all, it’s time to stop turning on your decorative lights.

Putting away winter decorations means you’re no longer operating in winter mode and you’re ready to take on the new, fresh feelings of spring. Plus, it helps to get you mentally prepared for everything that’s coming up next.

Step 2: Do Maintenance Chores

Homes require a lot of maintenance, especially after the winter season. There’s a reason they call it spring cleaning!

Here’s a list of outdoor spring cleaning tasks:

1. Check your gutters, downspouts, air-conditioning units, shingles, chimney, foundation vents and outdoor faucets.
2. Fix any cracks in your driveway, porch, stairs and even in your window caulking.
3. Use compact soil to fill up low areas in your lawn or next to your home’s foundation to prevent flooding and damage.
4. Remove any of the firewood you have stored near your home. For your safety, it should be kept at least 2 feet away from the structure of your home and 18 inches off the ground.
5. Clean outdoor areas like your windows, grill, outdoor furniture, power equipment and more.

Step 3: Do your Spring-Cleaning

Bears aren’t the only ones that hibernate. We (try) to stay inside all winter — And that’s okay! But now that spring is approaching, a lot of bright, natural light is about to get shined on any dirt in your home. Basically, spring cleaning consists of taking care of the things that aren’t maintained throughout the winter but need attention when the weather thaws out.

Here are some spring-cleaning tips:

1. Clean inside all cabinets and storage areas.
   Clean all your countertops and cabinets, but also go inside your kitchen and bathroom drawers and give them a good wipe. You’ll be surprised at how many crumbs you’ll find!
2. Give your appliances a scrub.
   Clean inside your fridge, oven, dishwasher, microwave, and washer/dryer. Then, clean them from the outside to make them look nice and new.
3. Scrub down your walls and your floors.
   Whether they’re drywall or covered in tiles (i.e. your backsplash or shower), laminate or hardwood, they all need to be cleaned. For your floors, use TORLYS EcoCare Cleaning Kit to make sure you get the job done well.
4. Wash your cloth materials.
   Wash all your bedding (there’s nothing better than fresh sheets!), blankets, area rugs and carpets, and vacuum your mattress.

Step 4: Add your Spring Décor

Once all the boring work is done, it’s time to get started on the fun stuff! The end of winter means it is time to add some spring décor to your home. But, it is important to balance adding some spring accents without going overboard.

1. Introduce some gardening
   Tulips and daffodils, like most spring bulbs, will bloom just as beautiful inside as they do outside. For instance, force bulbs by planting them loosely in rocks and soil while providing sunshine and water. Within a few weeks, your indoor garden will be thriving. If long stem flowers become unruly, place them in a taller bucket to keep them under control. Flowers’ natural colour will add brightness to any space and liven things up.
2. Change over accessories
   Store away dark or neutral accessories and replace them with your favourite spring colour. Try to keep it to one colour to maximize punch and focus on small inexpensive pieces like pillow covers and ceramics.
3. Take a risk
   Neutral walls come alive when you mix time, energy, and a few gallons of brightly coloured paint. Select a bright tone hidden within your existing décor and apply it to the walls. It’s amazing the impact this makes and how it energizes the room all year round. If the risk is too great for a main room, choose a smaller room like a bedroom or a powder room.
4. Use natural materials
   Wood tones are trending lighter and brighter along with raw materials. Flooring and cabinetry are moving away from dark espresso stains and showcasing natural wood grain. The resulting interiors are fresh and naturally inspire a feeling of Spring. If renovations are on your horizon explore natural or whitewashed hardwood, laminate, vinyl or cork. And for decorating, consider wooden furniture and natural materials like wool and cotton.

Choose TORLYS

If you have TORLYS floors and are getting ready for spring cleaning, consider TORLYS EcoCare Cleaner. This cleaning solution is specially designed for TORLYS floors to keep them looking beautiful for years to come. Find out more information at our website, including a full FAQ regarding recommended product care for your TORLYS floor.