What is the one room in the house that everyone is drawn to? The Kitchen!
When I show homes for sale in Pasadena, the majority of my buyers, had straight to the kitchen. They linger in the kitchen for awhile, I'm sure, trying to visualize themselves cooking and entertaining there. Of course... that's where most families spend their time.
In my family, most of our conversations and activities take place in the kitchen. Kids are drawn to it. Guests are always hanging around the kitchen. And... of course, my mom is constantly in the kitchen offering to help. Kitchen usually is the heart of the house.
So... if you are selling your Pasadena home, you need to ensure your kitchen drawn your potential buyers and makes them feel comfortable. There's nothing like a bright and sunny room to do that for you.
Recently, I put a home on the market in the Caltech neighborhood of Pasadena. This property was built in 1925 and has been remodeled many times since. However, the kitchen still had those brown wood cabinetry that was used extensively in the 80s. It was just a regular looking kitchen.
The home owners hired Michelle Minch of Moving Mountains Designs to help them prepare their home for sale. One of the things Michelle does is goes through the house and provides a comprehensive report with her recommendations for each room in the home.
The kitchen suggestions were minimal, but the impact was tremendous. Take a look at the kitchen before:
Here is a list of suggestions that Michelle has provided during her home staging consultation:
* Paint the cabinets white (they had a medium brown wood stain). This would brighten the room and freshen tired cabinets.
* Change the cabinet hardware to better reflect the style of the home. Cabinet hardware is like jewelry for your cabinets.
* Replace tile counters with granite or a solid surface quartz material (the homeowners had already researched the cost of granite counters)
* Replace the old sink and faucet with a new stainless undermount sink and stainless modern faucet.
* Remove 2 cabinets that had been added in an earlier remodel and didn't match the style of the other cabinets. This also opened up this galley kitchen.
* Clean out cabinets so they were half empty and neatly arranged.
* Clean counters of everything except what they needed to use every day (coffee maker, toaster, etc.) while their home was on the market.
* Remove window treatments that made the kitchen feel dark and small.
The home owners made the suggested changes and here's what the kitchen looks like today:
A major difference!
When you are thinking of putting your Pasadena home for sale, make sure to use all your available resources and include a property staging consultation along with interviewing a real estate agent to sell your home. When your house shows its best, you will get the highest possible price in the shortest amount of time.
Ready to sell? Give me, Irina, a call at 626-629-8439 for information about the real estate market and a free home selling consultation. And, call Michelle for a home staging consultation at 626-385-8852.
