Sell Your Home Fast With These 11 Cheap & Clever Tips
Sell your home fast.
Selling a home means new beginnings, but it also means it’s time to buckle down on packing, cleaning, organizing, staging, and getting it in tip-top shape for potential buyers. While many factors come into play when selling your house, we’re sure these clever & inexpensive tips and tricks will help you sell it even faster and make any house feel like home sweet home.
Here’s what we’d recommend doing to help sell your home faster while keeping your budget in check:
1. Buy a new doormat before selling your home.
Make an impression before buyers even walk through the door! Nothing says “Welcome to your future home!” quite like, well, a welcome mat! If your current mat has seen better days and you need a quick fix, grab one online or next time you’re in the store.
Already have a mat? If you have some extra time to spare, you could paint over the faded areas to make it look new again. Better yet, scoop up a blank mat and consider any of these trendy DIY doormats you can paint so you can take your new mat when you move.
- Yay You’re Here Threshold Coir Doormat – $13
- Threshold Outdoor Reversible Scatter Rug Black/White – $13
- Mainstays Plain Outdoor Doormat (Perfect for a DIY!) – $5.97
2. Rent a power washer to make your home look new again.
You probably won’t even realize how dirty your sidewalks and siding are until the first swipe with a power washer hose. Not only does cleaning up your house and walkways maximize your curb appeal, but you may also find it oddly satisfying! Best of all, if you have a friend willing to lend you their machine, this huge home improvement could essentially be free!
- Bissel Power Washer rental – $24.99 for 24 hours (price may vary by market or location)
- Home Depot Power Washer rental – $27+ for 4 hours (varies by product availability)
- Greenworks 1500 PSI Pressure Washer – $99.99
3. Re-mulch your landscape for a clean look (and scent).
I love the smell of fresh mulch, and it’s pretty universal that a newly-landscaped area adds significant curb appeal when selling your home. Even if you don’t want to add a plethora of plants, consider spreading a few bags of inexpensive mulch to give new life to your front yard and garden beds.
If you have a large area to mulch in your yard, you can get a better deal on mulch at your local landscape supply company and they’ll probably deliver it for a reasonable cost too.
- Vigoro Brown Mulch – $3.33 per bag (Or $3 each when you buy 30 or more!)
- Rubberific Rubber Mulch – $9.98 per bag
- 5 cu. yd. Black Landscape Bulk Mulch – $359
4. Make your home really shine with some new lighting.
Warm-colored lights can make a room feel cozy and inviting, while bright white lights can really brighten up space if it feels a little claustrophobic. Consider each room in your home to make sure each space is properly lit and swap out any bulbs as needed. Now you can watch your space shine at its best!
5. Grab some new lighting for your outdoor spaces too.
It’s common for potential home-buyers to come to see a house after work, so it’s likely they’ll be there from dusk to dark. Scoop up some solar lights to place around your landscaped areas and let your home stand out from the rest! Even better, you can take them with you when you move, so it will be money well-spent for your next home too.
You can even highlight other areas of your yard, as I did with my daughter’s playhouse makeover. It’ll make every space feel unique and stand out from all the other homes buyers are looking at. Plus, with a view like this, I’ll guarantee they’re already imagining their kiddos running around their new yard.
Scoop up these tea lights on Amazon for the most bang for your buck and place them on pathways, sidewalks, step, etc. as I did above! 😍
6. Refresh grout lines with a colorant and sealer.
Dingy grout lines can give off the impression that the floors are in worse shape (or are older) than they actually are. Lina loves Polyblend Grout Renew and used it to restore the grout lines in both her bathroom and kitchen. It’s so easy to apply that she even had her kiddos help out!
- Rejuvenate Grout Marker Pen 2-pack – $7.62
- Grout Pen Grout Restorer Pen – $8.99
- Polyblend Grout Renew – $14.28
7. Add fresh florals or greenery to liven up your space.
Most potential buyers are looking for homes that feel cozy, lived in, and well-loved! Nothing says “lived in” more than fresh greenery and some flowers! This is such a simple update that’s also pleasing to the eyes and nose. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy them long after your open house if you buy them from one of our favorite places to buy flowers.
Consider putting a vase with a few stems in the living room, kitchen, on a bathroom counter, or wherever you need to add a little life to your space!
Hip Tip: Want to invest in some faux greenery you’ll be able to take with you when you move? These plants at Hobby Lobby look totally real!
8. Stage the bathroom with a fresh shower curtain.
There’s a reason hotels tend to use all-white or light-colored linens, towels, and curtains – it gives the impression of a fresh, crisp look in your bathroom. Plus, any potential homebuyers will agree your space looks bright & inviting with the addition of a clean curtain to finish it off. Like many of our other clever ideas, this one can also go with you to your new house too!
If you already have a shower curtain and just need to freshen it up, we have tips on how to easily clean your shower curtain.
9. Bake up a fresh batch of cookies.
Okay, okay…I know you’ve got enough on your plate with getting ready to sell your home, but who doesn’t want to walk into a house that smells like freshly baked cookies? 🙋♀️
If you don’t have time to whip up one of our easy cookie recipes, then grab a pack the next time you place your grocery delivery order so you can pop them in the oven before your next showing.
As a bonus, buyers will have something to munch on during their home tour!
Hip Tip: Don’t have any time for cookies? Grab a new scented candle to make your home smell incredible!
10. Replace broken, mismatched, or dirty outlets & covers.
These little buggers are typically overlooked but can make a big impact if they’re seriously outdated or dingy. Outlets, light switches, and the covers themselves are very inexpensive to buy and if you’re comfortable, it’s something you can certainly do on your own. Take time to replace or clean up any outlets that are creating an eyesore so buyers don’t view it as another task to do once they move in.
Not experienced with electrical work? Replacing outlets will take an experienced electrician just minutes to swap out, so if you’re willing to pay them per hour you can have your whole house updated in less than a day!
- Outlet & Light Switch Cover Plates – Starting at less than $1 each!
- Leviton 15 Amp Single-Pole Toggle Light Switch – 68¢ each!
- Leviton 15 Amp Residential Grade Grounding Duplex Outlet – $4.98 for a 10 pack!
11. Freshen your floors and air with some essentials oils.
Rooms tend to get a little musty especially if you have numerous pets or active kiddos which is hard for many homeowners to notice when you grow accustomed to how your home smells. You can really freshen up your entire home in a pinch by dropping some essential oils on your steam mop.
My favorite oil to use is peppermint because it smells so fresh and clean. Plus, this technique is a safe and effective trick that will be pleasing to any potential homebuyer’s nose.
Check out our laundry appliance recommendations for your new home.
We sold our house last July and bought another house 25 miles away all here in Indiana. The best advise we received from our realtor was to sell “As Is”. Boy was that great advise. We had a country home that was built in the late 40’s and we lived there for 32 years and raised 6 kids in that house. We never thought in a million years that we would get out of the house what they told us to put it on the market for (over 4X what we bought it for), let alone getting an offer $10,100.00 over asking:) When this happened we were also advised to put in the contract that the buyer would pay the price that he offered no matter what it appraised for. The buyer immediately signed on the dotted line agreeing to everything and we were not asked to fix anything. This all happened on the first day it was put on the market and we were under contract by 11:00 pm that night:) Houses are selling so fast around here that buyers will do almost anything to get them. Hope this helps someone else who is thinking of selling their house.
About to say the same thing. You don’t have to do anything, sell as is and you’ll have 10+ offers in our area. I absolutely hate how the market is now. Our poor kids will never be able to buy a house the way things are going.
Oh just wait with this new administration interest rates are going to go up and it will be a buyers market
We’ve bought and sold many houses. These tips are spot on!
What is your recommended steam cleaner for hardwood floors? (Which one is in the picture with the essential oils?)
Hi there! You can grab that steam mop above from Target.
Also, here is a review on different steam mop options that may also be helpful! https://hip2save.com/tips/best-worst-steam-mops-to-buy/
Great tips. I only disagree with the smell of fresh mulch. It looks great but smells terrible to me. I also like to see houses with some flowers in the front as opposed to all bushes.
Thanks for the feedback, Lora!
I’ve sold many homes and always whip out a batch of fresh cookies from the tube! Nestle Toll House to the rescue! Always sold to the first looker! I’m telling you, it works!
My mom has done that in the past too when selling her previous home! Thanks for sharing!
Some of the best advice that was given to me and I see it is not in this article is to DECLUTTER, DECLUTTER, DECLUTTER! Even if you don’t want to bring to storage, box up your items and neatly stack them in the garage or attic, although I personally feel if you have another place like a storage building to bring them to even better. Remove excessive furniture that is dwarfing the room. If you have rugs down, unless they look brand new its probably best to remove since rugs can often break up the room and make it actually look smaller. We chose to take down our family photos, but that is just us. We put our home on the market a few weeks ago and within the first 24 hours on the market we had multiple offers. The one we accepted was just over listing price. The letter they wrote us complimented us on how clean our home was and that our (minimal) decorating made our home feel welcoming. I do not believe we would have had such good success with our home had we not have cleared out the clutter and few oversized furniture pieces we never use. It made our home feel so much nicer and bigger, that I even told my husband that I love our home and don’t want to sell it with how amazing it looks.
Hi thanks for the tips. Was wondering if anyone had any ideals about my 1911 old old house oak hardwood floors need refinished I want to sell but not lose money because of the floors. The floors have like a worn spot traffic spot where we walk from room to room. Is there a wax or something that
could help? Anyone know
I have an idea for you!!! It’s called “Howard’s Restore a Finish”…. it’s crazy how well this stuff works! It’s not actually a stain so you can’t mess it up… and it’s fast an easy! I have used it on my kitchen cabinets as well, and they look like I had them refinished. Look it up on Amazon and you will see lots of before and after pictures. I recommend using the Howard’s “Restore a Finish” then going over it with Howard’s “Feed-n-Wax”…. its great for any finished would actually… hope this helps!
The type of housing marker we are in now… people are buying homes “sight unseen”, homes are selling in a matter of just a few days. You don’t need to do all this
The nice thing about this list is that if you did everything on it you’re still only investing a few hundred dollars and a few days of your time. Plus you can take some of the items with you.
It’s not even a bad spring cleaning list for those of who aren’t moving since it’s these little that we can become blind to that make a big subconscious difference.
These are all nice ideas even if you are not selling your home! I love the grout marker ideas…” I didnt know there was a pen for that I bought that great..hope depot will ship them for free! NICE!! I am a realtor and yes there are some definite tips when selling…most of it is getting rid of clutter and making sure everything looks clean and smelling good. Professional pictures are a must that is how everyone is seeing your home!