Selling any home in the current market is a challenge, but owners of smaller homes can ease their property burden by highlighting their dwellings’ strengths while minimizing their shortcomings.
In fact, owners of smaller homes may have an advantage in their sale. A February survey of potential home buyers by the National Association of Home Builders found 60 percent said they would prefer a smaller house with more amenities than the other way around.
The first step for anyone looking to put a small condo, townhouse or rowhouse on the market is to put one-third of their belongings in storage, said Realtor Efrain Ramirez, The Ramirez Group of Advance Realty Anne Arundel, Glen Burnie.
Among the first possessions that should go into storage are coffee tables and unmounted bookshelves.
Sellers should then look to pare furniture to pieces with similar colors. These can set off one item in the room that is a starkly different color or style.
Another furniture move that helps is sliding all pieces toward one side of the home, which creates a defined walkway or hallway along one side of open floor plans.
Sellers also should consider repainting those spaces painted with rich textures or overly bright colors. Ramirez recommends repainting the walls with light shades of the same colors and offsetting the color with white ceilings.
“The lighter the paint color, the larger the perception of the room,” he said.
Another challenge for highlighting smaller homes at sale time is providing enough light for prospective buyers to see all that your small home has to offer. Baltimore’s rowhouses and town houses have particular difficulty getting enough natural light, he said. So keep lamps or overhead lights in every room, and when you have an open house or other showing make sure to turn all of the lights on.
Shannon Aldrich, an agent with Keller Williams Coastal Realty, who specializes in selling smaller homes in New Hampshire and Maine, agreed that lighting makes a big impact and suggests increasing the wattage of light bulbs used during a sale. Another change that can add light is getting rid of any heavy curtains and opting instead for sheers.
Ceiling fans — also turned on during any showing — can add to the appeal of smaller homes, if they are mounted close to the ceiling so they don’t present overhead clearance problems.
Another important point for rowhomes is to carefully maintain front doors and windows by keeping them clean, fixing dents and scratches and repainting faded or stained doors.
Smaller homes can stand out at sale with the addition of a small 4-foot by 4-foot pantry or storage closet on the main living floor for cleaning supplies and pet food. Some Baltimore owners add small plastic storage sheds if they have space in a backyard.
The last and perhaps most important point is to use a real estate agent who has experience selling smaller properties because they will know these and other steps that will help get you a quicker sale for the best price.
