To bring seasonal cheer indoors when staging your home, consider adding accessories like pillows or blankets (in bright red or orange for fall and winter or cooler colors for summer) or sprucing up your kitchen by placing a tray of cinnamon sticks or a bowl of lemons on the counter. Scents and fragrances, like apple and pumpkin in fall and winter or fresh cotton and linen in summer, can also entice home buyers during open houses. In what could be an effect of the pandemic, people are looking to spend more time in their outdoor spaces, and during the winter, too. “Experts claimed that roughly 48% of homes would have outdoor spaces adapted to use in the colder months and a fire pit is a great addition to create an outside area usable during winter months,” says Adam Graham, construction industry analyst at Fixr. The outdoor trends survey also reports that 85 percent of experts say their clients are more willing to invest in outdoor spaces now, compared to before the pandemic. They’re also relatively cheap to install: The average cost to build a fire pit is $850, but the project can run as low as $200, Fixr reports. In general, exterior home upgrades seem to have much better returns, says Graham. “In the Cost vs Value 2021 Report by Remodeling, out of the 22 projects presented, the top half with the highest ROI are exterior projects,” he says. “Insulation is a good way to keep your home warmer throughout the winter so you can keep prospective buyers comfortable without doing too much damage to your energy bills,” says Carson. “It will also come up during the inspection that your insulation is up to code and was recently replaced, which will set the buyers’ minds at ease,” she adds. As a result, insulating your attic can make your home more appealing. It can also boost your home’s value, since loose-fill attic insulation yields a 107.7 percent return on investment, according to 2017 data (most recent numbers available) from Remodeling. Plus, insulating your home can help you save money on energy bills. “The EIA is predicting higher residential energy prices this coming winter compared to the previous several winters, with some households potentially paying up to 50% more than last year,” explains Graham. Because of this, Graham suggests prioritizing weatherstripping and insulating your whole home this fall to make your home stand out even more to potential buyers.
