Are you looking to sell your home, but it has too many broken fixtures or aging appliances? To ensure you have buyers bidding on your house, you will need to make several renovations and repairs.
By remodeling and fixing up your place, you can put the property up on the real estate market at a higher value. In this guide, you will learn the key home repairs to make before selling a house. A few of the most common things to fix up include faucets, hardwood floors, HVAC systems, and a kitchen renovation.
We will go over minor repairs and major repairs. You will also find out how best to pay for the house repairs, how to budget for renovations, and the average costs of these repairs.
Keep reading to learn about the top home repairs to make before selling your property.
What Needs to Be Fixed Before Selling a House?
If you want to get a higher price for your property and more home buyers to start a bidding war, you will need to pursue several home improvements. As many as 79 percent of homeowners around the country selling their property complete at least one renovation to their place before putting it on the housing market.
HomeAdvisor reports that the right number of upgrades can increase your home sale price by around 10 percent. As such, you will need to consider your return on investment for all your home renovations. At the very least, home sellers will need to apply a fresh coat of paint to the walls using neutral colors.
Paint your house for resale values to increase. Repaint the kitchen, living room, and bathrooms, as these rooms are part of the first impression that potential buyers will see.
Also, you should get all the most important repairs done before a home inspection so that you have time to shop for the best price. For easier fixes like putting up new light fixtures, consider pursuing DIY home improvement projects.
Most importantly, you will need to have a visually appealing home look. A kitchen remodel is a great idea, including removing extra walls to open up the space and putting in new countertops. Yet, you don’t need to gut out the entire kitchen. Essentially, major kitchen renovations only return you around 51 cents on the dollar. As such, more minor repairs and renovations are best.
While a major kitchen remodel can cost anywhere from $22,000 to $50,000, a more cosmetic renovation of the kitchen will cost you only $3,000 to $5,000. That can also increase your home sale price by around 5 percent.
Essentially, you may want to repair the floors in the kitchen, put in new countertops, and buy new stainless steel appliances. Also, don’t forget about cleaning the house and staging the furniture well to attract potential buyers.
Potential buyers also look for excellent curb appeal. As such, you’ll want to complete landscaping projects and plant flower beds or bushes in your front yard. Mow the lawn and keep it well-kept. You can add a new tree or two and even a vegetable garden. You can also sell a home more quickly if you add a new deck to the backyard.
You may want to get a new roof and upgrade the HVAC systems. If your carpeting is old, faded, and stained, consider putting in a new carpet or stripping the carpets to the wood floors underneath. If your wooden floors, however, have scratches, refinishing them is the best option. The value of your home will shoot through the roof if you complete these remodeling projects.
There are major reasons to complete renovations and repairs on your house before selling it. These reasons include:
- Common repairs are easy to complete and simple to resolve, which cuts down on issues that the home inspector will find
- Possible home buyers visiting your place will have a better first impression
- You won’t need to reduce the price of your home after completing renovations
- You can reduce the likelihood of needing to do last-minute repairs, which end up costing more
Most Common and Must-Do Repairs Before Selling House
The home-selling process in North Carolina tends to go smoother if you complete needed repairs and renovations ahead of time. The top most common and necessary repairs to complete before selling a house include:
- Fixing broken or damaged floors
- Repainting the walls
- Repairing doors and windows
- Upgrading the lights and fixtures
- Completing landscaping work in the front yard
- Remodeling the bathroom via minor upgrades
- Remodeling an aging kitchen
Do you have outdated and stained carpets or scratched-up wooden floors? Or is the linoleum looking damaged? To increase the value of your home and ensure more buyers show interest in the property, install new flooring.
One of the best ways to increase your home’s value is to paint the interior and exterior of your house. If the doors have broken hinges or chipped paint, you may need to replace or fix them.
Also, if your doors don’t close properly, you will need a contractor to put in new doors. If it’s hard to open your windows and they make creaking noises, repair them or purchase new ones.
Upgrading the lighting is also a very budget-friendly way to boost your home’s appearance and increase its value. Since the front yard is the first thing buyers see, you’ll want to invest in landscaping the garden and improving the look of the doorway.
Inexpensive ways to renovate your bathroom include adding new cabinets, retiling the floors, and installing new fixtures for the tub and sink. Easier ways to renovate the kitchen include painting the wooden cabinets and installing new kitchen countertops.
The best time to put your house on the market is after you’ve completed renovations and when more buyers are looking, which is in the late spring and summer.
If these weren’t enough to convince you, here are 10 reasons to make repairs before you sell your home.
How to Pay for Home Repairs Before Selling
If your home is in relatively good shape, you will want to focus on more minor repairs and quick fixes. These are usually more affordable options. However, if you have a major issue such as a leaky roof, you’re likely to pay much more. A roof replacement can cost as much as $10,000. However, a roofer can complete a roof replacement in only a few days.
Another major issue that may crop up is a leaky and broken water heater. Installing a new water heater and disposing of the old one may cost anywhere from $400 to $2,000. Electrical issues can also cost a good amount. Replacing an electrical panel can cost anywhere from $1,200 to $1,700. Sometimes, you may end up spending as much as $4,000 to repair an electrical panel.
If you have broken septic tanks and damaged sewer connections, you’re bound to spend thousands of dollars. Replacing a septic tank costs about $7,000 on average. A sewer line replacement costs around $5,000 or more.
You will need to get a home inspection done to see what types of repairs are truly necessary and which ones you can avoid. A home inspector can explain what issues you’ll need to pay for before putting your house on the market.
For more expensive repairs, you may need a loan. You can also take out a home equity line of credit. That will allow you to have lower interest rates than credit cards. Yet, you can also put the costs of repairs on your credit card.
Further, you can apply for a property improvement loan program under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
You will also want to consider your return on investment for the repairs you choose to complete. Make sure the repairs lead your home sale price to bring you more money than the cost of the renovations.
Conclusion
You should now know the best home repairs to make before selling your house and which ones to avoid. For example, you will want to paint your living room, kitchen, and bathrooms to make the house appeal more to buyers.
A simple kitchen remodel will increase the value of your house. However, you won’t need to gut the entire kitchen to boost your home’s value. Instead, repair the floors, put in new countertops, and deep clean your house. Fix any leaky faucets, too. Once you’ve staged your furniture, you’re ready for home showings to potential buyers.
However, if you need to sell your home quickly, you may want to sell it in its as-is condition to a cash home buyer. That way, you also won’t need to work with a real estate agent or pay realtor commission fees. Those are the biggest advantages of selling a house by yourself.
The benefits of selling your house for cash to a real estate investor or cash-buying company include selling your place in its current condition without needing renovations and completing the home sale in only a few weeks. Contact us today to learn more about your home selling options.
Are you selling your home? Here’s how to draw in buyers and get a higher price.