10 Must Do Repairs Before Selling your Home

 Taking on some very inexpensive improvements will help you home to sell faster, and will stand out better.  Now is the time to make those little repairs you have been meaning to do, but didn’t have the time.

1.Start at the front door. Repair or replace that sagging screen door at the front and anywhere else needed. The entrance to your home is the key to good first impressions. Good first impressions are important. Buyers will be alert to signs of neglect or deferred maintenance, since they want to avoid expensive hidden problems down the road. Make sure that everything at the entrance is in good working order. If the screen door is torn or sagging, replace it. Patrol the perimeter of your home, inspecting it with the critical eye of a stranger.
Clear dead plants from the flower beds, trim bushes and trees if necessary. Make sure the lawns are green and cut. Don’t store the waste in the back yard, or try to hide it.

Speaking of front doors..a fresh coat of paint on the front door will go along way to make a good first impression for your home visitors. Choose a good color that will match the rest of the paint and trim.
2. Spiff up the roof. Missing shingles and broken, hanging gutters broadcast loud and clear to potential buyers that there is deferred maintenance on this house. You want the house to look as presentable and non problematic as possible. Get a roofer to replace any missing or broken shingles or roofing tiles. Moss growing on the roof signals neglect, so it’s important to get it cleaned off. Ask a roofing expert to remove moss or to recommend someone who can.
3. Clear and Caulk all gutters. On a good, clear day go up on the roof and clear all of the built up debris out of the gutters so they can drain properly. Recaulk the gutters and the caps.
4.Patch nail hole and repaint. Moving inside the house, you’ll want to patch up nail holes in the walls. After patching, wait for complete drying of the putty, then sand the patch until smooth and repaint. If you cannot repaint the patches so they match the rest of the wall, go ahead and paint the entire wall.5. Clean the smoke and animal smells.Getting to the bottom of what I am trying to say is bad smells are deal breakers. Period!! When strangers enter a home, the first thing they notice is a bad smell. Don’t even try hiding behind scented candles, potpourri and plug-in room fragrances. Buyers, ever suspicious to problems, catch a whiff of those and conclude that you’re hiding something.

In the kitchen and bathrooms, deep clean with bleach, then regrout the tiles and recaulk cracks between sinks, tubs, toilets, counters and floors to seal out the moisture that encourages the growth of smelly mold, mildew and bacteria.

If you have regular visits with people who smoke in your house, you have extra work to do.

To rid walls of smoke and nicotine film, some experts suggest washing the walls with cleaners using an alkaline builder, such as ammonia, and a glycol solvent (found at paint stores). Most experts recommend  painting an undercoat of Kilz primer onto clean  and dry walls to seal in any nicotine smells. Finish the job with a fresh coat of paint.  Change the filters in your HVAC.
6. Replace damaged or worn vinyl flooring. Inspect the vinyl flooring in your bathrooms. If it has discolored spots or is loose, moisture may be damaging the floor. Remove the baseboards by pulling them away from the walls with a small pry bar. Next, pull up the flooring using a larger pry bar — it will be glued and nailed or stapled. Also remove the next layer, called the underlayment, made of particleboard or layered plywood. While your new floor is being installed, you can sand and repaint the baseboards so the whole job will look terrific when it’s finished.

7.   Reseal the toilets. Pulling up the toilets yourself can save a lot of bucks. Even if you are not replacing the flooring, the seals in the toilets should be replaced. If the toilet rocks when someone sits down, or if the floor at the base is moist or discolored, the seal could be broken. Corroded nuts that hold the toilet to the floor are another sign that the toilet needs to be reinstalled. Before you begin, shut off the water supply at the faucet behind the toilet.

Don’t move the toilet alone. Get a friend to help, because toilets are heavy and cumbersome, and the tanks are easily cracked.
8    Fix all Faucet Leaks. There is nothing more annoying than a dripping faucet and nothing could be more expensive than paying for wasted water. If you can fix the faucets, fine. If you cant fix the faucets, get a plumber to come in and do it. While fixing the faucets, check for any moisture under the sinks, dishwasher, garbage disposal, washer/dryer, water heater, etc. This includes the patio and garage area too.
9.Renew or refinish dinged up baseboards. Beat-up baseboards detract greatly from the appearance of your home, and they’re easy to spiff up. All those little things tend to stand out.
First, clean them to remove scrapes and smudges left by clawing pets and toddlers on wheels.
Fill in the dents with spackle, sand the baseboards smooth and repaint them.
10. Repair cabinet scratches. You can quickly improve the look of unpainted woodwork and worn cabinets with an application of products that even out the surface color.

Contact John Crow for more help selling your home.http://www.sobayre.com/ 310 502 7650