3 Reasons to Not Ignore Your Fireplace Before Listing Your House
When was the last time you lit a fire in your fireplace? Was it that one time the temperature dropped to a cool forty degrees? Was it a special wedding anniversary that needed that certain ambiance? Whatever the reason, unless you have a ‘flip-of-a-wall-switch’ fireplace, chances are, a real flame has not flickered in your fireplace for months…or years.If you're planning to sell, now it's time to think differently about your fireplace.
You have a responsibility to homebuyers (and your realtor).
Your realtor takes extra care to write a fancy description about your home. Her description of major selling features, like your fireplace, get homebuyers’ shivering with excitement. And buyers imagine themselves living the ultimate lifestyle. That means you have a big responsibility. You control whether your house lives up to the expectations set by your real estate agent—and the home’s selling price.
A fireplace isn’t a once-a-year prop for Christmas stockings.
If you’ve done your homework, you know if your potential homebuyer plans to raise a family, settle into retirement, live the bachelorette lifestyle, or something totally unexpected. The typical young family might appreciate the fireplace for holiday gatherings. A bachelorette might prefer a fireplace for its interior design potential and retirees might love the fireplace for practical reasons—like stretching a fixed income.
You hold the power to create the fireplace as an attention getter.
Owning a fireplace means you have an automatic focal point in a living room, family room, and/or bedroom. If you play it up the right way, you’ll have homebuyers in the perfect emotional state to justify the home's price point. Here’s what you do:
Arrange furniture around the fireplace thoughtfully to avoid hiding it from buyers.
Paint or re-tile the area around the fireplace a color that compliments the room and continues to maintains focus on the fireplace.
Hang complimentary artwork above the fireplace and a mantel, if applicable.
Showcase the mantle with 3-5 modest decorative items to compliment the space.
Add decorative items to the floor base of the fireplace to draw the eye to it.
If you have a fireplace, don’t take it for granted. It’s the major selling feature that deserves a buyer’s attention. Give buyers what they don’t know they need until they experience it in your listed property and you’ll see a fantastic return.