What To Fix Before Listing Your House
You might be asking yourself, “Is fixing “THAT” really necessary, or should I just let the new owners deal with it?” It’s a reasonable question and one many home sellers find themselves asking. Well, help is here! Below, you’ll find our fix it or forget it list.
- New appliances – While purchasing new appliances that you’re not even going to get to use is expensive, and you might not even get your buyer’s style preference just right, old appliances that scream “I’ve been here for decades!” could leave your buyer concerned that you haven’t really kept the house up. If your appliances are very outdated, and you don’t really want to go all in on new appliances, you could try appliance paint, or magnetized panels to make a quick update. Another option would be to purchase used appliances that are just newer than the existing ones. They are much less expensive.
- Windows are a HUGE investment. As long as yours don’t have cracked panes of glass, or appear to be falling out of the frame, you might want to leave the task of replacing them to the new owners.
- FLOORS – THE FINAL FRONTIER… Finally, floors are a tremendous surface area in your home. Wood floors dramatically increase a home’s value. If you have carpet over your wood floors, they may be in better shape than you imagined. Consider removing it and getting the floors polished up. In many cases it increases a home’s selling price by as much as 6%! It is also a good idea to fix up any broken or cracked tiles in the floor. It sounds scary, but there are a lot of great websites out there that can give you step by step instructions on how to take care of it. The cost of leaving the broken or damaged tiles in place could be larger than you think. Buyers could see it as a sign of how the home has been maintained… Lastly on the notion of floors, if you have carpeted floors, GET THEM CLEANED! Because carpet is a textile, soft surface, it is prone to holding odors and dirt that you may have actually become used to. It’s safe to say potential buyers won’t be.
So, there you have it! Yes on replacing dated appliances, no on windows and yes on fixing up the floors!