Getting Your Home Ready for Sale

One issue we see homeowners commonly encounter is during the real estate transaction process. When a homeowner decides to sell his or her home, we often get frantic calls for work that needs to be completed by a certain deadline so the home can pass inspection. From our experience with these sorts of projects, we can offer a little advice to help you relax a little more and help your transaction go smoothly.

TrueSon Exteriors’ Top Tips for Getting Your Home Ready to Sell

The most important part of putting your home on the market is being proactive.

Most people wait until the last minute to get necessary work done, which causes hang-ups during the transaction and leaves little to no room for negotiation with the buyer. Prior to listing, we recommend you call a trusted contractor to get a walk-through of your home to make a note of what issues they notice and how much it will cost to repair them.

We often see the same handful of issues over and over again with home listings. We want you to know them ahead of time so you can begin thinking about what sort of work may need to be done to your home prior to putting it on the market.

Roof issues and replacements

You may not be experiencing a leak yet, but it’s possible your shingles have damage from storms or simple wear and tear from years of weathering. While it may not be an issue for you right this moment, it could certainly be an issue in the near future and a home inspector may consider it a problem for the home buyer.

Siding and flashing issues

When flashing isn’t installed properly or hasn’t been kept up with over the years, siding can take the brunt of the damage from water consistently getting past the flashing. (We will do a post about different types of flashing soon!) When the water gets past the flashing, it can rot your wall framing and cause you serious issues.

Deck repairs

Decks are a wonderful addition to your home. When they’re in good shape, they add value and appeal. However, we often see issues such as rotten boards, loose hand rails, and missing deck flashing. All these issues may seem minor in your day-to-day life, but they can really cause safety problems and can cost you a positive inspection.

If you choose to have any of these repairs or updates performed, it’s best to be as proactive as possible. It can be costly, but the work will have to be done at some point anyway, and you can feel stressed and rushed if you’re hurrying to improve your home at the last second.

You may find that the best contractors have a waiting period.

In your haste to get work done to your home by a deadline, you may be left with only a selection of poor contractors. Buyers can get out of a contract for very minor details, and if the work done on your house hasn’t been acceptable or if the inspection list is too long, your buyer may back out of the transaction.

It’s good to remember that even if you aren’t thinking about selling your home soon, you can invest in it for your own personal peace of mind. If you would like a free estimate on your roof, siding, or deck, give us a call at 573.442.7292.