When selling your house, your goal is to make a good first impression on prospective buyers. Besides considering the right place and the right time to make a real estate purchase, homebuyers visit properties that have enticing curb appeal. They also tend to look at how well the property was cared for by its previous owner.
Maintenance is the key to keeping a house in good shape. However, you may find certain parts of the property looking like they need a bit of TLC despite your best efforts. It can’t be helped, especially if the structure has been around for a long time.
Fortunately, simple repairs and updates can help ensure that buyers don’t pass your home by when scouring the neighborhood for properties for sale. This article lists the seven most crucial repairs you must make before putting your property up for sale.
1. Renew the Floor
The floor is one of the most battered parts of the house that would most likely require your attention prior to selling.
From scratched wood floors to worn-out linoleum or outdated carpeting, any old flooring can make the place feel like a reminder of a sad life in the house. And this may cause potential buyers to scratch your property off their list of viable houses to purchase.
Want to know how to avoid this while potentially increasing your home’s value? Renew the floor.
Remember that buyers won’t be keen on replacing the carpet or repairing certain parts of the floor, particularly after paying for an entire house. Even if you reduce the price of your property, prospective buyers would potentially turn down the deal. Money isn’t an attractive enough offer to compensate for the time and effort they would spend repairing worn-out floors themselves.
If you have hardwood flooring that still looks like it can serve a new family for at least one generation, a simple refinishing should do it.
For porcelain tiles, you can replace broken ones in a jiffy. The same goes for vinyl — simply replace parts that are worn out.
2. Repaint
Repainting is one of the fastest, easiest, and most cost-effective ways of giving your property a facelift.
Besides making it look new, paint can also cover up blemishes and address issues that may result from years of use. Repainting fixes a number of problems, ranging from water stains to peeling paint. It can also breathe new life into the place.
You can use decorative coatings for certain areas you plan to use during home staging, but it is best to keep most of the house in a neutral hue. This way, buyers can see themselves putting in their personal touches and feel like it’s a place that they can call their “home.”
3. Refill or Replace Tile Grout
Another cosmetic fix that can help boost your home’s value and marketability is refilling or replacing tile grout. Whether it’s cracked or discolored, you can count on buyers to notice any imperfection in the kitchen or bathroom tiles.
With new grout, you can make these surfaces look like they have just been installed. And when the house looks new, home buyers are bound to take a second look at your property. In some cases, a complete replacement of the grout can even help you sell your home above your original asking price.
4. Deal with Roof Problems
Besides the floor, the roof is another major part of the house you should pay attention to when preparing to sell.
When performing a roof inspection, you or your trusted handyman should inspect whether the storm gutters are blocked up. If left unchecked, this can cause running water to collect along the edges of the roof, leading to water damage on the shingles and wood rot on the fascia boards.
You should also be on the lookout for other issues, such as:
- Sun damage
- Curled shingles
- Torn off parts
- Damaged flashing, particularly around vent openings
If left unattended, these issues can lead to more expenses. They may even lead to the need for a reroofing.
5. Fix Faulty Wirings
While it may not be immediately apparent to a prospective buyer during an open house, leaving faulty wiring unrepaired can be a recipe for disaster.
Faulty electrical wiring is a common cause of fire in a lot of places around the world, and yet it is totally preventable. Solutions can range from simple fixes to major rewiring.
Fortunately, rewiring is quite rare, even in houses erected during the 1960s and 1970s, so long as the house was built according to the local code. You may need several minor electrical fixes to be done, such as:
- Replacing missing wire nuts
- Changing damaged or open junction boxes
- Fixing frayed wiring
- Repairing faulty outlets and light switches
So long as you have them fixed as early as possible, you shouldn’t have any problem with your prospective buyers.
6. Repair Plumbing Issues
If you find pools of water inside the house even if it’s not raining outside, you probably need to have your plumbing checked. If the inspection confirms it, you have to act fast and deal with the plumbing issue immediately.
Water damage in itself is already an issue, but when left unchecked, you may have to deal with more problems like dry rot and mold. And both of these bring about unpleasant smells that may tip off people visiting during an open house that something is wrong.
To prevent your house from scaring off potential buyers, deal with the plumbing issues immediately. To be sure, seek help from a professional plumber when fixing these things.
Unless you’re a handyman with plenty of experience dealing with plumbing, your safest and the most cost-effective bet is to hire an expert for the job. Otherwise, you’ll risk a more expensive repair.
7. Invest in Low-Cost Kitchen Updates
The kitchen is one of the rooms buyers look at during an open house. But as tempting as it may be to do a full kitchen renovation, it is rarely worth it even though buyers might love a new look.
The problem is that the cost of those expensive upgrades won’t be shouldered by buyers. In fact, sellers only recoup about 62 percent of the cost of a full-on kitchen renovation. So, if you’re planning to invest in an update in the space for the sole purpose of selling the house, go with low-cost changes instead.
Besides renewing the tile grout, you can also paint wood cabinets, replace the hardware, or have new countertops installed. No need to go on a full remodel.
Welcome Changes
Selling your house requires ensuring that the property is as good a place as it can ever be. But besides being able to close a deal, repairs can also boost your property’s value and help you make the most out of the effort.
AUTHOR BIO
Ralph El Eid is the Business Development Manager at COLORTEK – Wall & Floor Fashion. EQUIPAINT is the franchise owner of COLORTEK in Dubai (U.A.E.) and Doha (Qatar); an international paints manufacturer specializing in the widest range of decorative paints and seamless concrete & resin flooring, with a unique showroom concept, and thus an ideal destination for homeowners, consultants, architects, interior designers and paint applicators.
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