Preparing your home for sale is an important part of the selling process. There are many things that can be done to make the house appealing to buyers.
Once of the biggest things that can be done is decluttering the house. Remove excess pictures from the walls and nick knacks from the living space. If there is large furniture in the rooms, it may make the room appear smaller. Consider removing unnecessary furniture. How the house appears online may determine whether the buyer wants to visit the property or not. It has been proven staging a home may bring up to 23% more on the selling price versus properties that are not.
Make obvious repairs around the house. Check to see if the exterior has peeling paint, damaged wood, or other materials. Consider repainting rooms that have bright colors or worn-out paint. Use neutral and warm colors that would be easy to match décor with. Neglect in the exterior may have the buyers questioning what other aspects of the home have been neglected.
Keep the lawn mowed during the summer months and the house picked up for showings. Presentation is the key factor here when a house is shown.
Wash the windows and doors and clean any cobwebs around the ceiling. Buyers do take note of a dirty house.
For those looking to be proactive about selling their home without complications from buyer inspections, consider conducting your own inspections in advance of a buyer submitting an offer. Here are a few examples.
- Conduct a building inspection.
- Conduct a radon test on the house.
- Have the water tested if on a private well.
- Have the chimney, fireplace, woodstove and/or pellet stove cleaned and inspected.
- Have the septic system cleaned and inspected if on a private system.
There are several advantages of performing inspections in advance. First, you get to see any potential problems that exist on the property. This allows the seller to decide whether
Second, it saves the seller time and money by not having to find contractors because of buyer demands for repairs on a tight schedule.
Third, the possibility of buyers offering higher bids knowing the property has already been inspected. Buyers have more confidence in the property when they have an opportunity to review the inspection reports. That confidence is reflected in higher offering price for the house
Fourth, there is less change of the home going back on the market after going under contract. Buyers conducting inspections are more likely to terminate the contract once they perform an inspection versus receiving the reports in advance. They already know what they are buying.
The winter months can be difficult to have the septic system pumped due to the lack of access from the frozen ground. Having it performed in the warmer months allows the system to be checked and prevents expensive escrows at the closing. There have been several occasions the closing attorney is demanding an escrow be placed until the system can be checked in the spring.
The costs spent performing the inspections in advance have been proven to save the seller time and money with better offers.