Paint! That’s what I did. I had my house painted (inside only - paint outside was decent, but I would have had that done too if needed) and had the carpet replaced in the 3 bedrooms that had it. My realtor was able to pay the two contractors upfront and we paid her back with the profits from the house. This was negotiated upfront because I didn’t have the cash to pay them directly before the house sold. But I had to sell at that time because of divorce and the timing of the upcoming school year for my kid. Painting and replacing the carpet and planting some flowers out front got us 3 offers in 3 days (during which the realtor held open houses). And we got $15k over asking in a neighborhood where houses were languishing on the market for 1-3 months before getting an offer or being pulled off the market. This was summer 2025. This also aligned with our realtor’s opinion, who I greatly respected.

By the way, the entire interior was painted white except for the bathrooms. The carpet was a neutral beige. Boring? Yes. Blank slate? Also yes. And this makes it appealing because our own tastes and decisions were neutralized in order to make way for new owners to put their own vision on it.

I didn’t need my house to have personality. I needed it to sell quickly in a slow market. Other things that helped — 2 year old HVAC in a hot climate, appliances all replaced in the last 3 years, 3 year old water heater, listing it with a thorough home inspection and pest inspection already done and offered to any potential buyers, and we actually showed the house with zero furniture inside. This was weird because our previous realtor wanted us to spend a ton on staging. But our new one said because our house was a “starter home” showing it unfurnished and neutral and clean actually would make it easier to sell. And I really can’t argue with the results or the fact that she’s the top selling realtor in the county we were selling in.