How A 5 Minute 'Repair' Can Help Sell Your House

When I am working as a buyer's agent and showing a house, some of the details that I suggest to my clients are: examine the HVAC filters, try all windows for ease in opening and closing, taste the water and check the water pressure.

 If the HVAC filters are not clean, chances are good these sellers are not very maintenance oriented.  If the water tastes terrible (even if a water test gives it a passing result) the buyer may want to have a water filtration system installed.  Good to know before you go into negotiations.  Many people just WILL NOT BUY a house with poor water pressure.

I was reminded of this when I started doing the dishes in our new rental.  We just sold our farm and are building a small home on less acreage.  The water pressure in the kitchen was terrible until....we cleaned the aerator.  This five minute job can make the difference between a sale or no sale.


Just another reminder: the details matter when selling (or renting) your home.

Selling Your House, Yikes! I'm the Client!

Every Realtor should sell her/his house at least every 10 years.  Reminds you how difficult it is for your clients to follow your advice!

Once the decision was made to sell, we de-cluttered, depersonalized (somewhat), cleaned, we repaired (by we, I mean my handy husband) and worked on our curb appeal. 

When you have almost 12 acres, working on curb appeal in August is a herculean feat.  This year we were blessed with rain and slightly cooler weather, it could have been worse.

So, tired and apprehensive, we had our first open house.  Wow!  Everyone who came stayed for hours.  The hard work paid off.  We had two second showings that week and got an offer that went to contract.  A week later we got a backup offer.

My advice to sellers is what you hear time and again: Do the work your agent requests, or at least as much as you can.  It pays off in either a quick sale or the most money for your property, simetimes both.

In my next post, I will reveal why, I believe, it went to contract so quickly.