Is it time to sell your home in North Park or South Park? Here are the top 4 things your Realtor should speak with you about doing to make sure your home is ready to go on the market for sale.
1. Make the Minor Repairs Needed to Make Your Home Ready for Sale
Daily life in your home looks completely different from getting ready to sell it. Many times, people get used to normal wear and tear on things. But when you decide that you are going to sell your house, a homebuyer will look through a different set of lenses. They are getting ready to pay top dollar for a house, so they want it to be in the very best condition possible, unless it is clearly a fixer-upper. If so, we use a different strategy to help you get the highest dollar amount for your property.
Determine what minor repairs are needed first. Start at the entrance and work your way through the entire house. Take notes of things that are not working properly and things that look dingy. What does the landscape look like? Do you need to clean up the weeds and plant a few colorful flowers out front? If there is a fence, is it broken? If so, this will need repairing. How does the front door look? Does it look faded and banged up? If so, a nice fresh coat of paint does wonders. Step inside and look at the light switches, doorknobs, leaky faucets, dirty grout, scuff marks on the floor and walls. If any of these things are broken or need repair, you should definitely address them if you want to get top dollar for the sale of your house.
Another idea is to have a pre-inspection completed on your house by a professional home inspector. They will look at your home with a fine-tooth comb and let you know what needs work. If you wish, you can repair the items that come up in the inspection as needing the most attention before showing your house to a potential buyer. Your Realtor should have referrals for a few great inspectors that you can call.
2. Minor Renovations to Consider
Painting a fresh coat of paint is one of the most cost-effective ways to give your home an immediate facelift. To appeal to the broadest range of buyers, you should choose a neutral color and avoid anything too personal. If your house has old wallpaper, you may consider removing it and painting the walls. Anything with patterns or different colors that has not been updated may deter a potential buyer. They may not be able to see themselves living in the home.
These are other minor repairs and small renovations that bring in a good return on investment:
- Adding fresh sod, colorful flowering plants, fresh mulch, or drought-tolerant landscape here in San Diego is always a good idea
- Adding pavers or a wood deck in the backyard-Creating an Indoor-Outdoor Space by adding furniture, showing an area for entertainment
- Painting Kitchen Cabinets, changing out hardware fixtures and kitchen and bathroom fixtures, changing out old light fixtures
3. Remove All Clutter Before Putting Your House On the Market
- Clear out closets. Get rid of clothes that you have not used in the last 3 years
- Remove excess choochkies from tables, fireplace mantel, or any other counters
- Minimize children’s toys and keep them in one room.
- Minimize pet toys and keep them in one area of the home
- Keep litter box spotless (if you have kitties)
4. Don’t Forget to Disclose All These to Get Your Home Ready for Sale!
Gathering all of the records and documents for your home can be a big job, depending on how organized you are. However, this one is extremely important. There are many required disclosure forms that California has you fill out. Together with your Realtor, you will go through them to make sure that you do not forget to fill them out properly
Things You Will Need:
- Receipts of repairs or recent remodeling that was done
- Past Reports of the home that you may still have
- Any leases (if rental), guarantees on previous work completed
- Any transferable service agreements
- Mortgage Loan payoff information
- Permits applied for or finalized permits
- Information on pool systems, Solar Panels, and Water softeners
- Any existing surveys
By following these 4 steps, you can get your home ready for sale in North Park, South Park, or any neighborhood in San Diego. If you have any questions, contact our knowledgeable Real Estate Team. We are here to help you through the process and make it as stress-free as possible.
If, after reading all of these ideas, you think your home would need way too much work, and you would prefer to sell it “as-is”, don’t. worry; we can do this as well. Our team has sold many houses in North Park, South Park, and many other parts of San Diego in “as-is” condition. We will go through the process with you on how this works. We want to make sure you feel comfortable with whatever you decide about how to sell your house.