When you do a quick fix before selling a home, it most often pays off. But which home repairs will bring you the biggest return? There are many sellers, who while trying to do the right thing, make repairs that aren’t required or needed. Most often, they tend to make the repairs they themselves would want. Deciding whether or not to make these repairs can depend on a variety of factors which can include:
Time of year
Location of the home
Market temperature
Competing inventory
There really is no carved-in-stone rule. But there are general guidelines that will apply to most homes. The National Association of Realtors will publish each year the Cost vs. Value Report with their Remodeling Magazine, which features various home project costs along with returns in four regions. This report also includes a national average.
There really is no improvement you can make that will return 100% of your investment except possibly insulation. You can improve the value of your home with updates, not maintenance issues. Don’t confuse these, as they are two very different things. For example, let’s say you replaced the furnace. This does not add more value to your house. On the other hand, if you go ahead and install dual pane windows to increase efficiency compared to those old crank out aluminum windows, now you have added value.
Most often, houses will look better when they are furnished compared to when they are empty. In addition, they also look larger. If you are moving, and indeed plan to take your furnishings with you, if at all possible, try to show the house before you actually move out of it.
Each and every house has defects, some obvious and others not so much. Both of these types of defects can affect the price that a buyer is willing to pay. It is a serious mistake if you think a potential buyer will just assume that the only defects in a house are those that are plainly visible.
A serious buyer will most often invest in an inspection that is done by a company that specializes in such services. Buyers that don’t have an inspection done will most likely assume the worst regarding the unseen condition of the house.
Facing up to the issues basically means asking yourself whether or not you will end up financially better if you fix the structural defects, or if you offer the house at a lower price. This is most often known by the phrase selling the house ‘as is.’ If repairing the house will cost $10,000 but it results in a sale price that is $15,000 higher, then for sure you should do it. Should the post-repair price be only $10,000 higher, you shouldn’t. The outcome that is more likely will depend on the exact circumstances.
Probably the most obvious situation is when potential buyers have the capacity to make only a small down payment, and therefore are not in a position where they will be able to fund the cost of any major repairs after they make the purchase. When you make the needed repairs before the sale and set a correspondingly higher price, the buyer is in effect financing the improvements in the mortgage.
Please note that if you fix a structural defect before sale, it in general takes more time, which a seller might or might not have
Published on 2018-03-02 19:14:44
