Photo by Rudy and Peter Skitterians via Pixabay
When you’re prepping your home to sell, your “to do” list can get quite long, quite quickly. Which projects do you really need to tackle before listing, and which are best left undone? Talking to your real estate agent is a good first step, but this guide will also give you the lowdown on what to do, and what to ignore.
People do notice if doors aren’t opening properly or windows look a little drafty, and it can be enough to turn them away from the property. These issues are also highly visible. If you ignore them, they can make buyers wonder what other maintenance you’ve put off.
A fresh coat of neutral paint does much to freshen and clean the look of your home. It helps buyers picture themselves in the property, and doesn’t cost a lot to do. While painting, repair any drywall problems you see to give the home a ready-to-move-in look.
Your electrical panel and circuit breakers need to meet current building codes. Electrical problems will show up on inspection and can delay the sale of your home, so you might as well fix them before listing instead of after. If you have an older home, call an electrician to see if you need any updates.
Floors in poor condition are a major turn-off to buyers. Install new flooring, even if it’s a cheap type, and your home will look much more inviting. If you are lucky enough to have hardwoods, have them refinished so the home will shine.
Water stains are a huge red flag, because buyers will assume you have a water problem or mold is hiding behind the stains. Even if you addressed the water problem successfully, be sure to clear the stains, too.
You may have heard that remodeling the kitchen or bath is an important thing to do before selling, but it is less important than you might think. Research has found that the return on a bathroom remodel in an average home is only 67.2 percent. Kitchens return only 62.1 percent. Make your kitchen and bath look as good as you can, repair anything that is actually broken, but don’t tackle a major remodel.
Another project to skip is adding a sunroom. Sunrooms are difficult to maintain, and many buyers don’t want one.
Prepping your home to sell takes time, effort, and thought. With these tips, you can spend that energy where it will make the most difference, and skip those tasks that will take up too much money or have minimal impact on your home’s value.
Susan Shuxian Hu has been a dedicated realtor serving in Silicon Valley since 2010. With great passion, outstanding negotiation skills and due diligence, she has helped many buyers and sellers in their real estate needs. Living in West San Jose for more than 14 years, she has broad knowledge in Cupertino, West San Jose, Los Altos and Saratoga. She has enormous patience working with buyers and never tired of showing all possible properties that may fit client’s needs. Clients appreciate her best service to their satisfaction. She specialized in luxurious real estate purchase in Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga and Palo Alto. She also helped friend and past client’s referral working in San Francisco, Foster City and far reached Bay Area.
Susan Shuxian Hu was graduated in East China Normal University in Shanghai with bachelor and master degrees in Bio science. She came to US in 1989 and earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics in Texas A&M University in 1996. After one year of postdoc in Southern Florida University in Tampa, she moved back to Orlando with her family and started working in Lucent Technologies. In 2002, Susan moved to California, Silicon Valley joined a start-up company. Since then she worked in high tech Corporation till 2009. Driven by her dream job pursuing, she found her passion working in sales by helping people in real estate after one year of education in De Anza business and real estate law study. Since then, she has been serving many people in Bay Area for their real estate needs.
With bilingual advantage, she has been actively working with Chinese immigrants as well as local engineers and residents. With rich high tech background and connection with Chinese community, Susan has served in luxurious real estate in last a couple of years.