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
Daily living in your home looks completely different than getting ready to sell a home. Many times people get used to normal wear and tear 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 to buy a house so they want it to be in the very best condition as possible.
Determine what minor repairs are needed first. Start from the entrance of the home and work your way through the whole 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 is something that 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 to be repaired, this is something you should definitely do if you want to receive 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 to you can repair the items that come up in the inspection that need the most attention prior to 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. In order to appeal to the broadest selection of buyers, you should pick a neutral color and nothing too personal. If your house has old 
wallpaper, you may consider removing it and painting it. Anything with patterns or different colors that have not been brought up to date 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 chochkies from tables, fireplace mantel or any other counters
- Minimize children’s toys and keep them in one room.
- Minimize pets 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!
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, Water softeners
- Any existing surveys
By following these 4 steps, this will help you with the upfront preparation of getting your home ready to sell in North Park, South Park and 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 to make it as stress-free as possible for you.
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 of how this works. We want to make sure that you feel comfortable with what you decide on how to sell your house.
