READY TO MARKET YOUR HOME ?

As we enter another selling season, you may have a list of items you need to do to get the home ready for the market.  Some are deferred maintenance items like roofing repair or replacement, cleaning out the crawl space or replacing broken windows.   These are not “fun” updates, but they are necessary and can be very costly.  I think of it like repairing the transmission on a classic car, when what you really want to do is paint the exterior and re-upholster the interior.   Without the transmission fixed, the car wont run, but nobody is going to oooh or ahh over your transmission as they would a shiny new paint job.   I have met with countless tired sellers who have spent weeks thinning out their home, making endless trips to donation sites.  They show me before and after photos, the stacks of items in the garage or on the curb as proof of their hard work, which I can appreciate.  However, potential buyers walking through your home may not be able to see what you have done.  Buyers often purchase a home with their eyes and only see what still “needs” to be done.   It’s like they have blinders on, all they see is the flowered wallpaper that still needs to come down and the green shag carpet hiding valuable wood flooring.  My advice is to make a list of the major updates you have made to the structural, mechanical and electrical components of the home.  Provide this information to your Realtor, he or she will highlight your attention to home maintenance.  And if you have one more Saturday afternoon of labor left in you, haul that old carpet to the curb, show off the wood floors and leave the shag back in the 70’s.