In my continuing information on tips to sell yur Main Line homes, I will now discuss repairing your house.
Buyers expect a trouble-free home. They want to buy a house, move in and start enjoying it right away. They don’t want to waste time and money fixing up the place. If you don’t repair your house, it will be seen as a fixer-upper and you will not be able to attract the right kind of buyers, nor will you get the price you want for it.
Buyers, in an effort to protect themselves, will always inflate the actual cost of the repair. A simple fix that might cost you a hundred dollars now will cost a thousand dollars once the buyer has seized upon it.
After you’ve packed, try to store them offsite. But when this isn’t possible, choose a corner in the basement or crawlspace and stack packed items away neatly. Do not use the garage or the spare bedroom as a storage area. They provide more value when you exhibit them as living space.
REPAIR
Do not conceal problem areas in your house. This is unethical! Home buyers are savvy and if they see through your tactic you can be assured any potential deal is dead. Even if you manage to get past the buyer, it’s not likely you can fool their home inspector. The money spent fixing and upgrading will hopefully increase the value of your home to offset the repair costs.
CLEANING
Depending on your flooring type, vacuum, sweep, mop or scrub clean. For carpets, rent a steam cleaner.
REVITALIZING
Don’t want to paint the whole house? Try a different colour scheme for trims and doors. It will make your house look new again.
SHOWING
Be prepared to spend a few hours each week maintaining your house while you’re selling it. It doesn’t have to be done on the weekend. In fact, you should stagger the tasks. That way your house isn’t it its worst shape on the Friday before the weekend showing. Share the workload with other family members.
