So you’ve decided to sell your home and you know you need to get your house ready but you don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Starting a task is always the hardest part, but if you’ve created a definitive to-do list, that will make life a whole lot easier. Here is the best way to create your home improvement to-do list.
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Red Flags
Start out by addressing the most pressing improvements that will not get through the inspection process. Some examples include: cracks in walls, ceilings, and floors; termite issues, water damage, or infestations of any sort. If there are a lot of red flags, you may be better off just selling the home as-is. Consult your realtor and see what the best course of action is for you to get the most out of this home sale.
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Key Rooms
Once you’ve identified your key rooms (see our previous blog post about this here), address any red flags or updates in those rooms first before you address the others. This will consolidate and maximize your impact on the buyer’s first impression of your home.
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What’s Important to Your Potential Buyers?
Speak to your realtor about what improvements are going to be the most important to your buyers. This is important because you don’t want to go wasting time or money updating your house in ways that will go unnoticed and won’t get you a higher ticket price.
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Budget
Prioritize updates that are going to give you the most bang for your buck. These are going to be the improvements that are more affordable that the buyers will care about a lot. Again, maximizing your impact is an important strategy, so prioritize repairs and updates that will make your home look great but not drain your bank account. Your realtor can help you determine what repairs will make the most sense for you in your situation.
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Time
How long do you want to wait for your home to be sold? If you plan on moving in three months and an improvement will take six months, scratch that one off the list. Start with the tasks that take the shortest amount of time, that way if you finish and have extra time on your hands, you can start on other improvements and feel the security of knowing you’ve knocked out several important repairs.
Hopefully this list will help you with starting the process, and once you begin you’ll find the process to be easier than you thought!