Home and Real Estate Weekly: What to repair before you list your home

Fix that leaky faucet before you put your home on the market.

When you’re getting ready to list your home, it’s of the upmost importance to ensure you are showing it in the best light. Taking time to highlight its strengths and fix up some of its possible weaknesses can make a big difference in how fast it sells. Here are five recommended repairs to make before selling your home.

  1. Repaint walls. Giving your home a fresh coat of paint is one of the most cost-effective ways to spruce it up, and generally, it can be a do-it-yourself project. Make sure cover any walls with scratches and chips and consider updating any accent walls with a more neutral coat.
  2. Repair floors. Hardwood floors are a very desirable feature in a home, so you want to ensure they look their best by fixing scratches or dull areas. If your carpet is worn or stained, consider replacing them. And don’t forget the tile in your kitchen or bathrooms. Re-grouting can go a long way in making dingy tile work look brand new!
  3. Refresh the landscaping. Show buyers your home is the full package by dressing up the outside as well as the in. Clean walkways and driveways, plant seasonal flowers and plants, trim hedges and trees, install outdoor décor pieces and fill in mulch and gravel.
  4. Fix your fixtures. Leaky faucet? Rusted drains? Loose drawer handle? Making these small fixes can make a big difference to potential buyers with detailed-orientated minds.
  5. Improve your kitchen. An outdated kitchen can be a real eyesore in a home. Updating cabinetry, repairing or replacing countertops, and installing new faucets and sinks may be worth the investment.

(Reused with permission from Breakthroughbroker.com)

  1. This story doesn’t have a byline. Who is the author and the organization, if any, who contributed it? Or was it “borrowed?” I was a licensed real-estate agent for ten years. This story, while giving some good advice to sellers, misses a pertinent fact: The regional real-estate market overall determines how well a property sells, not its condition. When I was an agent, I showed properties with leaky roofs, mildewy inner walls and sagging floors to people who wanted them, at a cheap price, to fix up and sell. The market forces are really the most important force when listing a house for sale. If there is too much supply and not enough demand, also known as “buyer’s market,” then listing it will require a lot of patience. I sold a house in Lynnwood last fall as the market was turning from “seller’s” to “buyer’s market.” While I did paint part of the outside, after 21 years of the house being occupied by numerous tenants as well as myself and my boyfriend, I didn’t paint on the inside. I did replace the carpeting in four rooms, but chose very cheap material. I hired a cleaning lady to clean it, which cost only $90. I made it look good, but the appliances were dated, the water heater about to expire. I offered it “as-is” and it sold like fresh buns out of the oven, as soon as we came down $10k on the price. We got a pre-approved offer that same day. It would’ve cost in excess of $10k to paint/fix/remodel/replace.

    1. The information came from a real estate website that we use for content, with their permission. We have listed the source as an FYI.

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