Homeowners who are preparing to put their houses on the market are understandably nervous these days. Will a buyer be found? Will they be approved for a mortgage?
This sort of uncertainty has some owners thinking about spending extra money to make repairs in a bid to improve the marketability of their homes. While major repairs should be handled before the home is offered for sale, most sellers can make minor repairs and still sell their homes.
Before you sell, you need to assess how your home looks to potential buyers. A skilled real estate agent can suggest what repairs you should make before marketing your home; those tips are likely to include the following:
Clean up your landscaping — your front lawn could make or break a sale; if your home doesn’t have curb appeal, then buyers may not be able to “look past” the front door. Trim bushes, put grass seed down to fill in patches, plant flowers, and lay down mulch. Trim trees which are obviously diseased too.
Refreshen your front door — does the entranceway to your home “wow” your visitors? If not, consider applying a new coat of stain to the front door, fix broken glass, clean the light fixture, lay down a new welcome mat, apply a fresh cost of paint around the frame of the door.
Interior walls — short of painting your home’s interior, touching up walls by removing smudges and repairing cracks could be all that is needed. If wallpaper has obviously aged and looks dated, remove same and repaint the walls with a soft color.
Too much furniture — remove extra furniture as too much furniture can make a room look smaller than it should. If a chair or sofa is worn, put a new slip cover over same or remove that piece.
Carpeting, flooring — ripped carpeting should be fixed. If old, replace it or if there are wood floors underneath, have the floors refinished — you’ll save money over buying a new carpet.
Bathrooms — replace that old toilet seat with a new one, fix dripping faucets, caulk the shower/tub, clean the tile, replace the shower curtain and rug.
Kitchen — keep all appliances even if they are old as long as they work. Your next buyer will probably replace these items anyway. Re-stain or repaint cabinetry and fix counters that are cracked, worn, or otherwise needing a makeover. Remove excess small appliances when showing the home to create a more spacious appearance.
Closets, nooks, and crannies — sticking everything in closets or other out of the way places is a no-no. Organize these areas to “show” exactly how they are to be used; avoid filling up your attic, basement, garage, and shed with stuff you really don’t need and won’t ever use again.
HVAC — an old furnace, air conditioning unit, or hot water heater could be a sale stopper. Replace these appliances before putting the home on the market.
Instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars readying your home for sale, you could spend just a few hundred to a couple of thousands of dollars and have a home that will sell quickly. The key, of course, is to do the minimum repairs in advance of marketing your home, to help you maximize your profit and move on with your life.
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