You are finally moving to a new house and you plan to list your old home for sale. You went around the house to reminisce, but you suddenly noticed a lot of damages. Would you sell it as is or do you plan to repair and renovate it before selling? There is no rule in house selling that requires you to repair your house first before you sell it. You have the discretion to sell it as it is if you want it.
However, if you want to get the most out of the house and you want to sell it at a satisfactory price, there are a few home fixes that you should complete before you sell it.
Home Repair #1: Damaged Flooring
It is easy to notice the scratches on your floor, especially if you have wood flooring. You can also see the damages on your carpet and you can easily tell if the linoleum is already old. Potential buyers might back out as soon as they noticed the flooring. They won’t even check the other parts of the house because they were turned off by the appearance of the flooring. You can check the flooring around the house and replace the damaged or worn-out floors. Most buyers don’t want to deal with repairs and replacements so you need to do it yourself. If the floors are still good, you just need to refurbish and make it look new.
Home Repair #2: Water Stains
If you’ve learned to live with multiple plumbing problems in your house and you got through with temporary fixes, it is not going to work if you are selling the house. Water stains would indicate that a lot of pesky problems are hidden from the surface. You need to make sure that the problem would be fixed before you put your house on sale. Hire a plumber and let them check for leaking pipes or poor drainage, especially if the basement is damp. You might need to invest at least $1,500 for the repairs, but it can improve the value of your house and it would be easier to sell.
Home Repair #3: Revive your Kitchen
Most of your buyers would be families and of course, the wife is almost always the decision-maker. The kitchen is definitely a deciding factor. If your kitchen looks old and outdated, don’t expect them to even consider your house. If your house has not been renovated for a long time, it is time to do it. Look for modern kitchen designs and change them a bit. You don’t have to make a full kitchen remodel. Changing and fixing a few things will do.
Home Repair #4: Repair the Bathroom
If you have broken showers or old and moldy sinks, you should replace them and fix them as soon as possible. They will always check the bathroom if it looks neat and clean because no one wants to take a bath in a dirty-looking bathroom. Well, most buyers would prefer a house with a clean and neat bathroom so it is not a bad idea to fix and repair all the broken things inside it.
Home Repair #5: Dying Lawn
If you have a lawn in your house and it looks hideous, the buyers won’t even step inside the house and they would back out. Basically, they won’t buy a house with a dying lawn as it would take a lot of time and effort to revive it. If you are going to revive a dying lawn, do it right now. It would take a lot of work, but a professional lawn care service can review your lawn in no time.
Final Thoughts
Selling a house is not as easy as you think and there are so many things that you have to check to make sure that the buyers would love it. Most of the buyers are getting smarter by the day and before they even set foot on your house, they already researched the things to check before buying a house. Instead of tricking the buyers, you just have to spend a bit of time and money to fix everything in your house. You don’t have to worry because the value of your house would increase depending on the things that you would repair or fix inside it.
Author Bio
Victor is a real estate investment specialist, with more than four years of experience in the industry. He is specialized in real estate purchasing processes and has rich experience in writing different guides on this topic. Currently working as a Business Development Manager at Prospect Group and manages the Creative Marketing side as well. He has experience in buying houses in difficult situations such as probates, foreclosures, liens, problem tenants, etc.
