Selling Your House? You Need To Evaluate It for Repairs

If you think it’s time to sell your house, hold off on listing it for now! Before putting your house on the market, you need to evaluate its current condition. Then, based on your findings, you may need to adjust, update, and repair its biggest problem areas.

Not sure how to evaluate your home? Not to worry – these tips will help you start investigating the state of your property so you can make a plan of action to appropriately fix and patch things up.

Think Like a Home Buyer

To understand what you’re offering to home buyers when selling a house, the best thing you can do is walk through your home and imagine that you are seeing it for the first time. By disconnecting yourself from the love you have for your space, you can better understand what a stranger will see instead. Remember, you might be A-okay with things like a squeaky stair or broken door handle. But will a buyer feel the same?

Start your self-guided tour on the outside and work your way through your home. While you do, be critical. Take notes about what a prospective buyer may see – for better or worse!

Show Your House’s Best Side

During your self-guided tour, you should also make note of your property’s best features. Does your living room get a ton of natural light? Do you have amazing landscaping or any interesting structural details in your home? For four-season homes, do you have spring or summer photos available of your home?

Make sure you know what your “best side” is now, so you can brainstorm ideas to properly showcase it later!

Pick Your House’s Projects

Once you have your list of possible repairs and upgrades, don’t fret – especially if it’s a long list! The reality is that you can’t always change everything about your home. That’s why we have to pick and choose our projects.

The items on your list are likely to fall into three key categories:

1. Unnecessary. Some renovations simply aren’t worth the money and shouldn’t be addressed just yet.
2. Simple. In other cases, you can make up for something that’s lacking in your house fairly easily. These issues will usually just require a cosmetic touch-up or fast, affordable replacement.
3. Serious. Finally, some issues will need proper repairs and work done before you list your house. These necessary repairs, however large or small, could leave doubts about other components of your home that are not visible or accessible. So they are worth your time, energy, and money!

Not sure how to categorize the issues on your list? That’s normal – these things often require an expert opinion. So before you begin deciding what to work on before selling your home, it’s best to talk to your real estate agent. They have the experience and knowledge needed to determine which repairs will be critical to selling your house – and which ones you should let go.

Ready to find a real estate agent to help you evaluate your home and prepare to stage and sell it? You can quickly find agents in your area at our website! Once you’ve hired a real estate agent, you can work with them to prioritize your list so that you’re using your time and money wisely. They’ll have smart recommendations on the best use of your hard-earned dollars. Most important, thanks to their knowledgeable tips for selling your home, they’ll have you ready to sell in a timely manner.

Need more information and help as you prepare to sell your home? Our Seller’s Guide will help you learn how to sell your house in 2020! This free download includes tips for working with a real estate agent, low-cost ideas for staging your home, and more! Download the free guide today to take advantage of over 20 pages packed with advice and worksheets all geared toward one thing: helping you sell your home faster, easier, and for more money.