When you are preparing to put your home on the market, in a tough buyers market, it needs to more than just look pretty.
As a professional real estate agent, I have seen many homes that have languished on the market simply due to what is referred to as 'deferred maintenance'.
This term refers not to things that need major repairs, such as holes in the roof and foundations that are coming apart, but relatively minor items that on a day to day basis you may not even notice.
Some examples of these items are leaky pipes, drains under the sinks, doors that don't close, missing trim and worn or partially missing roofing.
The first thing you must do is consider that when a real estate agent prices a home, the highest value is for home that is in perfect shape, and in no need of repairs.
When buyers tour your home, they will be taking note of any items they find, and at the very least, subconsciously putting a black marks against it.
The effect of this is that the perceived value of your home in relationship to the other property on the market, will be lower.
Most buyers have no idea what even minor repairs cost.
Consequently, they will error on the side of caution when estimating the repair costs to your property.
This of course means a lower selling price for you.
Additionally, buyers are more reluctant to purchase homes with deferred maintenance.
Even if they are okay with dealing with any items that need repairs, most buyers prefer not to.
In turn, this means that given the choice between properties, buyers will tend to purchase the homes that need few or no repairs.
As a result, your home is more likely to sit on the market for an extended period of time.
The longer your home is on the market the lower its sales price is likely to be.
Even if the deferred maintenance items on your home are obvious, you should go through and check for repairs that need to be done before putting your house on the market.
The reason being, that virtually all buyers will purchase a home inspection prior to closing.
Home inspectors are professionals that are trained to find problems with homes.
They will poke their heads under cabinets, look in the crawl spaces and inspect your attic.
A meticulous home inspector can find problems with even a brand-new home.
So if you have repairs that you've been putting off, you can imagine what they will find.
I have seen more than one deal go down in flames because of what a home inspector discovered.
It is far better to be proactive and get repairs completed prior to listing your home.
You may even want to go as far as ordering a pre-inspection.
This will give you an opportunity to correct any defects in your home before putting it on the market.
Another important reason to make sure your home is in good shape, is that in most states you are required by law to fill out a property disclosure report.
This report covers all of the major items in your home and asks if there been any issues with them.
It is much better to be honest and say there was a problem and you had it corrected than to mark 'unknown' or worse yet, lie and say that everything is okay.
If you want your home to sell for the most money possible, in the shortest amount of time, then it is absolutely essential that all of your deferred maintenance items are taken care of prior to listing! If you have any questions about what needs to be done, you should ask your real estate agent to make suggestions or contact a local home inspector about getting a pre-inspection.
The time and money put into preparing your home to put on the market will definitely be worth it in the long run.