Initial Step for Getting a Home Ready for Market

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Real Estate

Are you or someone you know considering selling a home?  Perhaps it's the one you are living in, perhaps it's one that is about to be vacated by another family member.  Best advice I can give you, Talk to a Realtor who knows the local area FIRST, before you do anything.

Too often what we see as Realtors is people looking online to get ideas for fixing up their homes, then starting the work prior to calling a Realtor. Then we come in and try to tactfully say that they spent their money on the wrong things to get the home sold quickly.  Or they over improved the home for the neighborhood, spending more money on it in the process then they will be able to recoup in the sale.

Experienced, local realtors know what sells homes in their areas.  They know if a subdivision is a formica kitchen counter subdivision or is a granite countertop subdivision.  They know where to send people to get reasonably priced materials and they have a list of good reasonably priced contractors who can help.  They can tell you if something you are considering doing will get the home sold faster or for more money, and will tell you if it's worth paying the money to do it or if there is a slightly different way to take care of the issue that would be cheaper.

They also know what the local municipal inspectors look for - from GFCI's to firewalls and smoke detectors and can advise you if you should get the municipal inspection done before putting the home on the market, or after you have a contract from a buyer. They can give you a fairly good idea of what the buyers' building inspector will write up and the buyer will want to negotiate your fixing before closing. It's much better (and cheaper) to fix on your timeline before putting the home on the market, then to fix it when you are on a time crunch between contract acceptance and closing and Oh, Yeah, the buyer specified they wanted licensed electricians and plumbers to do the work that a handyman can handle just as well.

Need to clean stuff out of a home as well, they will have names of estate sale people and liquidators who can help you.

Talk to your Realtor up front. They are there to help YOU meet your goals on YOUR timeline.