Selling your home is easier said than done. If you are not paying attention on what your home looks like inside and out, you are missing out on many opportunities to get the best out of home sale. With a perfectly prepared house for sale, you can get more than your asking price. Also, the possibility of home selling quicker than other similar homes, even if they are in the same neighborhood, is high. For this to happen, you need to root it out through home inspection.
Unless your house is one of the listings in the local real estate property auctions, your first step in preparing your house for sale is to walk around it and make sure that nothing is out of ordinary. Look for issues that are obvious to the eyes. You may have gotten used to the growing shrubs, broken door curtains or weeds growing in the corners of the backyard. You are fine with the old chipping paint on the corner of the exterior and don’t intend to apply a fresh coat anytime in the future. Or perhaps you have walked over the two loose tiles on your kitchen floor hundreds of time without giving much thought to it. The buyers wont feel as comfortable as you are. They will notice anything that is not conforming to their norms. They expect every house they visit to be like a model home from a reputed builder.
Have you encountered issues around the house after a walk-through? The best way to handle any issue that you see with those untrained eyes is to take a note of it and fix it immediately. The heating and air conditioning system should be your first priority, especially in places where temperature tends to fluctuate to the extremes. Light fixtures and electrical outlets should be in good working condition. Sometimes buyers may take time out after their office hours or late at night to take a look at your home. Any appliance that will be included as a bonus should be in working order as well.
What about loose or damaged floor boards? If they are not fixed, some buyers may think that they would have to replace the entire flooring instead of the loose plank itself. This may give them the leverage to bargain on the asking price. Most educated buyers will surely check the cabinets and floors, sliding doors, latches and locks to ensure that they are functioning correctly. And last but not least, don’t neglect the big items – the roof and ceilings. Make sure that there are no cracks or leakage in them.
Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes the information that you give out to potential buyers may not be accurate. You may have accidentally failed to mention a non-working water heater to the buyers or their agents. This may lead to other questions. A better way to handle such a situation is to have a preliminary inspection done and hand over the report to prospects before house showing or open house.
