What should I do to prepare my property for sale?
You should tidy the place up. How far do you go? How much money should you spend? These are the tough questions we are asked frequently. In a nutshell, you should renew your property cosmetically. Paint is an inexpensive way to really freshen a place up. Caulking around windows and doors is smart. Cleaning the carpeting makes sense. Oil the cabinets and wood floors. Re-stain the wood deck, interior and exterior doors. Seal the blacktop driveway. Have a janitorial service deep clean the property from top to bottom. Be sure all appliances, heaters, lighting, plumbing and other components are working properly. Order pest, chimney and septic (if applicable) inspections right away. Fix what is wrong and get a clean bill of health from the inspectors. So far you haven't spent an extraordinary amount of money, and the money you have spent will go a long way to give a buyer a positive first impression. If you have major repairs that obviously need to be done, either do the work or have two estimates ready. Your sales associate may then show a buyer that the problem isn't as bad as the buyer fears. Your Coldwell Banker sales associate can assist you with making the above arrangements. This sounds like some work, but most of it will need to be done in escrow anyway. You might as well do it now in hopes of selling at a higher sales price. If you make the repairs later, it's money out the window because the buyer has already discounted the sale price to account for the work needed.
