Prep Your Home

Prep Your Home

Your home is the star performer in this show. Even the best
marketing and promotion efforts will fall short if your home isn't
appealing to potential buyers.

There are a number of things to consider when getting your
home ready for market. By addressing these items early - before
the sales effort begins - you can insure that your home will
show its best side to buyers.

Seller Liability

Many sellers do not realize the extent of their potential liability
after the sale. While local laws vary considerably, a seller is
generally required to disclose any deficiencies of which he or
she is aware. This is the problem - how do you prove exactly
what you did or did not know? Our disclosure checklist can
provide a starting point by helping you determine which items
are disclosure issues. A pre-sale inspection by a reputable
inspector can be an ideal way to protect yourself against
disclosure related claims after the closing.

Pre-Sale Inspections

Inspections are for buyer's, right? That is a popular perception,
but the truth is that a pre-market inspection can be a very
valuable tool for a seller. Since the buyer is probably going to
have an inspection anyway, why not find out about any
problems upfront so you're not taken by surprise a few weeks
before the closing date? A pre-sale inspection can also help
protect against potential seller liability - if the inspector didn't
find a problem it is a reasonable assertion that the seller did not
know about it either.

Clean, Clean, Clean

A home for sale can never be too clean. In addition to a
complete scrubbing you may want to do a little rearranging to
insure that your home shows as well as possible. Review our
home cleaning checklist for some ideas on where to start.

Major Improvements

Most major home improvements don't make sense for sellers,
however there are notable exceptions to this rule. Required
repairs, or other deficiencies that must be disclosed, will likely
make it very difficult to sell your home (and you'll probably end
up agreeing to correct them anyway) - so it may be worth
dealing with these items before hitting the market.

Smaller Projects

Unlike major improvements, many small home projects can be
very good investments for the seller. Generally, the best
projects to consider are those that are fairly low in cost yet
provide a major impact to the look of the property. Check out
our list of 10 improvements for sellers for some ideas.