As homeowners prepare their homes for the spring selling season, they ponder what improvements should be made in order to make their homes more sellable, in particular what expenditures will deliver the most return for the cash invested.

One easy method is to tour new homes in the same price range in the same neighborhood that are being built by successful builders, i.e., builders with a two- or three-year track record in that geographical area.

They have learned through trial and error what sells and what does not, and sellers can profit from the builders’ previous mistakes.

The hot buttons in the WeHo, or Wedgewood Houston area, are not the same as Belle Meade or its surrounding Highlands, Links or Courts. Developers in the Nations are having success with architecture that would not fly in East Nashville, even though they are appealing to the same demographic, in many cases.

There are several requirements that cross geographic lines and boundaries. First and foremost, everything must be done or at least appear to be done.

Today’s buyers are not locals moving up or down who have a bevy of favorites, their own plumbers, the electricians that they have used for decades, nephews who can paint and Mr. Green who has been handling all of the odd jobs for years.

These buyers are new to town, don’t know anyone and want the house move-in ready so that they can go to work the next day. The kitchen and the master had better be sparkling, and the stainless steel appliances in the kitchen shining from behind those solid surface counters.

The yard should be landscaped to the nines, all rooms tidy and uncluttered and the HVAC should be inspected and serviced so there are no alarms sounded during their inspection.

The fresh, clean palette approach is best. Allow the buyer to imagine their belongings in your house.

As sellers, you have to un-you your own house. Make it theirs. Their tastes may be horrible and the current owners’ impeccable, but the ugly furniture they love is what is going to find its way to the home they buy.

Sale of the Week

Vailwood Drive is a sleepy little street that connects the highly traveled Green Hills streets Hobbs and Abbott Martin.

Since there would be little reason to go from the congestion of Hobbs to the equally congested Abbott Martin, it is not used as a “cut through” and experiences little traffic. Consequently, it has little name recognition although it is a few hundred yards from the highly vaunted Julia Green Elementary School.

In 2001, Whit Clark of Fridrich and Clark Realty listed the home at 4013 Vailwood and advertised it as having a private suite and fresh painted. Veteran Realtor Marilyn Gross, who was then with Coldwell Banker Andrews, represented the buyer, who benefitted from the fresh paint.

Evidently, very little paint made its way to the walls over the next 15 years as it was listed in 2016 as a home that “needs some renovation.”

Jonathan Heard, the wily youngster with PARKS, sold the property to a developer who gave the property more than “some renovation.” He introduced the home to his pet bulldozer and flattened that fixer upper.

The lot now buckles under some 5,002 square feet of structure with ceilings that are higher than the roof of the previous 2,725-square-foot edifice. It’s tough being a lot in Green Hills these days.

With its energy-efficient package, there is a chance the cost to heat and cool the new home may not be much more than the previous shack’s owners paid.

Vintage South Development has utilized all the latest energy-efficient materials available with spray foam insulation, insulated glass windows, Energy Star appliances and programmable thermostats – all great news for the new homeowners.

What is unfortunate is that there are those living in much smaller homes that lack all of these energy saving features. They live in drafty rooms with cellophane over the windows and no insulation above the ceilings.

Equipped with baseboard heat and scads of space heaters, their electric meters spin like race cars at the Daytona 500. Retrofitting to high energy standards is more than they can afford, but NES and TVA have programs to help.

Listed for $1,599,000, Whitney Musser of Worth Properties proved her worth to her client by getting the price down to $1.5 million, almost $300 per square foot, for this five-bedroom, 5.5-bath home.

When Whit Clark and Marilyn Gross sold 4013 Vailwood with its fresh paint, no one would have dreamed that someone would pay $445,000 for that home and demolish it 15 years later.

Richard Courtney is a real estate broker with Christianson, Patterson, Courtney and Associates and can be reached at [email protected].