In the runup to listing your piece of real estate on the market, it’s important to make it look the best it can for the realtor and the subsequent open house. When failing to attend to these things, it can cause a loss of value on the listing price and the final sale price too.
Here are three things worth doing before listing your home.
Fixing & Upgrading the Water System
The water in the home has various uses. Here we cover a few areas to review:
Dripping Faucet Check
Everyone relies on flowing faucets, enough water to run a bath, and good drinking water. For older homes, there may be an annoying water dripping sound where the cause needs tracking down and resolving.
Boiler/Water Heater Maintenance
Where there’s a water heater or boiler, does it require a maintenance call or is it overdue for a service? The last thing you need is it conking out just before or worse, shortly after completing the sale, which creates a dispute with the seller. Check it and have peace of mind (you can also mention that it’s been reviewed and provide the paperwork for it too).
Water Filter and Fluoride Removal
With the water supply, depending on the local authority, the fluoride level in the water could be problematic for health. While fluoride present in the water supply is common and low levels are beneficial for our teeth’s enamel coating, higher levels are detrimental.
Installing a fluoride filter prevents having too much fluoride present in the water supply. New owners will appreciate better tasting, healthier water, and it gives the home purchase a feel-good factor too.
Improving the Bathroom’s Appearance
While it won’t make sense to replace the vanity and functional units in the bathroom, they can still benefit from buffering up to improve their appearance.
Cleaning a bathroom vanity usually is best approached with basic soap and warm water. Using a sponge or cloth will be gentle enough to not unintentionally add scratches to any of the surfaces.
To deal with the more stubborn marks, use a bathroom cleaner that is tougher on strains. When cleaned off, rinse the surface down with water to ensure nothing remains of the cleaning solution to cause future problems.
The sinks, bathtub and/or shower also need to get a deep clean too. If you still have shower curtains, look to replace them with something new and colorful.
Replace and Buff Up the Flooring
Wooden flooring that has sustained a few scratches over time needs to be worked on gently with steel wool and then partly resurfaced. It’s a complicated process with multiple steps that are outlined in detail in this article here.
For older carpets that are stained and where it won’t come out, it’s probably worth replacing them with a new carpet in a neutral color. It doesn’t need to be a top-of-the-line carpet unless you own a luxury home.
Also, fix any squeaky floorboards. They’re sure to be noticed by people walking around your home and sadly, will certainly detract from their overall impression.
Once you’ve handled the details that will get noticed if left unresolved, your home will likely enjoy a better reception. Selling quickly is much better than a home sitting on the market too long and the listing going stale.
