Home Repairs for Selling Your Home Fast
Before you place your home on the market, you may need to address repair issues both minor and major to make sure you’re not turning away any buyers with a howling exhaust fan, pink-striped wallpaper or a blistering roof. Selling your home free of problems allows you to get the best possible price and sell quickly.
Invest in an inspection. If it’s been a while since you’ve had your home professionally inspected, it might be a good investment before you put the house on the market. You’ll be fully informed and able to attack your repairs based on their recommendations for what’s most critical. You also won’t have any surprises during the sale process if there’s a major repair needed, like a foundation problem or a furnace that’s on its last days.
Know the difference between a repair and an upgrade. Don’t expect to bump up the price of your house because you replaced some bad pipes or had part of the deck torn off and repaired. These items will help your house sell, but they are repairs. An upgrade is when you replace your outdated carpeting with hardwood floors. Our team at Dani Beyer Real Estate can help you determine which upgrades are most likely to help in selling your home quickly, and for the best price.
Determine your plan of attack. Take a look at the following areas that will make selling your home more challenging if they’re not addressed:
Curb appeal: This covers a lot of areas, but drive by your house imagining you’re seeing it for the first time, and even have a friend or two come by and tell you their impressions. Maybe you’ve got a little chipped paint, or maybe your neighbor’s house looks comparatively vibrant because they always have blooming geraniums and a wreath on the door. You want your house to stand out for its attractiveness. Consider putting a fresh coat of paint on the front door or planting some flowers.
Walls and floors: Yes, your kitchen walls textured to look like a Tuscan bakery were super-cool in 2005, but updating them is a good idea for selling your home today. Take down that teddy bear wallpaper, put on a fresh and neutral coat of paint and pare down your décor on the walls. You should also have your carpets professionally cleaned and consider having your wood floors refinished. The first things buyers notice when they come in are the walls and floors, so be sure they’re doing their part to sell your house.
Kitchens and bathrooms: These are also critical areas for selling your home. If you’ve got a leaky faucet, dated fixtures or chipping paint on cabinets, you can count on turning away buyers unless your home is priced at a point for accommodating these issues. Replace broken tiles, update cabinet hardware and make sure the oven, fridge and dishwasher are all in good working order.
Roof: Potential buyers will be keeping an eye peeled for a roof that needs replacing, and you can bet it will come up at inspection time if yours is due for repairs or a replacement.
Furnace, etc: If your furnace has been chugging away like a champ since the 1970s, that’s awesome, but don’t count on buyers to be impressed. An old furnace with little maintenance on the books or a water heater that leaks are red flags to buyers. Consider replacing or doing a tune-up to older systems.
It’s easy to take it personally when buyers walk away from your house because it needs some repairs, but keep in mind that they’re often simply thinking in terms of dollars. Even small items like replacing dated light fixtures or rusted hinges can add up, so remove these distractions to sell your home at a great price quickly.
To get started successfully selling your home, contact us at Dani Beyer Real Estate. We can help you start by identifying the areas you should prioritize for repairs so that you get the best possible price for your home.