Preparing Your Etobicoke Bungalow For Sale

One of the most popular types of houses across Etobicoke — and, in particular, South Etobicoke — are mid-century, World War 2-era bungalows. While these charming-yet-dated bungalows are examples of typical homes in the area, that also means they’re also among the most popular types of listings on the local real estate market.

Don’t get the wrong idea — as these single-storey homes are generally set on large lots in very desirable luxury neighbourhoods like Alderwood and Long Branch, they certainly aren’t a dime a dozen.

However, when it comes to selling real estate, the name of the game is maximizing your home’s value, and to do that you need to make your listing stand out from the crowd.

With that in mind, and with the traditionally busy fall selling market right around the corner, now’s the time to start preparing if you’re a South Etobicoke bungalow owner eager to sell.

To give yourself a head start, here are a few things you can do to enhance your home’s market value before fall.

Get Sudsy

Every successful sale starts with a nice thorough clean. There are no two ways about it, a clean home is much, much easier to show to potential buyers than a dirty (or even somewhat clean) one.

Look at it this way — if you were a buyer and walked into a dark, dusty home, you’d be much less likely to want to submit an offer for it even if you knew all it needed was a good cleaning.

A few key areas you should pay extra special cleaning attention to include:

Windows
Kitchens
Bathrooms
Floors and Walls

These parts of a home tend to get the dirtiest, the quickest, which is why it’s important you make sure they look extra neat and tidy before any photos or videos are taken of your listing — and especially before any potential buyers visit in person.

The good thing is that this is typically a pre-listing prep step that you can do all on your own without the need to hire professionals.

Is your bungalow in or near the neighbourhood of Alderwood? These Alderwood-specific links can help you find out more about how to earn top dollar from your sale.

Declutter, Declutter, Declutter

The next pre-listing task you can get done ahead of a Fall sale is sorting out all of your household clutter. We’re all guilty of collecting a bit of clutter over time, and in a smaller home like a bungalow, it’s almost impossible to avoid.

However, no matter if you’ve got a junk drawer, a few overflowing closets, or a perpetually messy living room or den, there’s simply no room for any extra clutter in a luxury home listing. The easy part is identifying what and where to declutter.

Places like tables, desks, and countertops should have little to no clutter on them. Absolutely nothing should restrict traffic zones like entryways, doorways, floors, and stairs, and high-functioning rooms like kitchens and bathrooms should also be kept immaculately tidy.

The more challenging part is knowing where to put all of your extra stuff. For that, there are a few options you can take:

Rent a storage locker
Ask a friend or family member to store your things
Or, simply get rid of your excess stuff

Whichever route you take, the key here is to be ruthless — you want your home to look as clean and empty as possible so that when stagers and/or visitors walk through it, they aren’t having to look past any excess stuff to be able to get a good look at your home.

Do you know what you want your next home to look like? Check out My Featured Listings to see what’s currently available in the Toronto and South Etobicoke markets.

Give It A Fresh Coat

When it comes to preparing a home for sale, the power of a fresh paint job can’t be overstated. Both inside and out, a lick of paint goes a long way in making a listing look polished and presentable — and the best part is, it doesn’t take a lot to make a big difference.

While it’s a big ask to completely re-do your home’s exterior, updating the paint jobs on items like doors, door frames, window frames, mailboxes, or other smaller accent pieces can easily be done in time for fall. Recoating these smaller accents always seems to really make a home ‘pop,’ and shouldn’t take a lot of money, time, or effort to do.

Heading inside, I always recommend sellers give the interior walls of their home a refresh with a new coat of paint before listing it on the market. The key here is to choose a calm, neutral colour like white, off or eggshell white, or a muted light grey for most rooms and walls.

The idea here is that light, neutral colours leave a relaxing impression on visitors, and generally make interiors feel larger than they actually are.

Plus, not only will a neutral paint job appeal to the most amount potential buyers, but it also gives them the sense that your home is like a blank canvas waiting for them to express their own design inspirations.

Whether it’s your first time selling a home or you need a little refresh, these helpful links for sellers will set you up for success ahead of the fall market:

Stage Downstairs

While staging your entire house is something I always recommend to my selling clients who want to earn top-dollar for their homes, I usually also recommend they leave most of that to the pros to do.

Even if you think you’ve got the best interior decorating taste in Alderwood, there are tons of little nuances to real estate-specific staging that the professionals just get. However, if you want to get a head start, a great place to begin tidying up and making look more presentable is your basement (if you’ve got one, of course).

Because bungalows are only one storey tall, basements provide a lot of super desirable bonus space, which is always highly valued by potential buyers. And, if yours is fully finished and appears somewhat polished, it’s got the potential to add a ton of extra value to your home.

These days, buyers are more eager than ever to find homes that have adaptable bonus spaces like basements that they can transform into a home office, home gym, or income suite.

However, for many Etobicoke bungalow owners, I know that their basements often end up becoming a place where extra household clutter gets thrown away out of sight. Needless to say, a messy basement isn’t very inspiring for potential buyers.

Even if you don’t share that bad habit, it’s worth the extra effort to bring your basement up a notch by doing some light staging. Even little things like neatly positioning a work desk and office chair against a wall or setting up a cozy couch and coffee table area can inspire potential basement transformations for buyers.

Don’t Forget About Outside

Your home’s exterior is the first thing visiting buyers see, so it’s vital you ensure the outside of your home sets the tone for the rest of their showing by giving them a positive first impression. In the real estate industry, we call this curb appeal, and there are a few things you can do to boost yours.

First things first, some comprehensive yard cleanup is always recommended. Get rid of any dead or dying plant debris, then do your best to try and eliminate any weeds or unwanted plants.

From there, if your yard audit has left any major gaps in shrubbery or planter boxes, make sure you replace any excavated plants with new ones. Alternatively, you can get creative with your landscaping and refill any blank areas with fresh mulch, wood chips, gravel, or any other aesthetically pleasing garden fillers.

Apply this to all outdoor spaces of your home, including any decks or patio spaces. Think about it this way — most buyers will have enjoyed spending a lot of time outside this summer, so you want to do your best to make them feel like they can continue to do that in the future living at your home.

Looking for a local agent who can help you sell your South Etobicoke home? Call or text me at 647-239-7587 or send me an email at melissa@southetobicoke.com to get started.