The Safari Guide to Listing Your Home
This is the sixth installment in our weekly blog series to help you prepare your home for listing in today’s market – Service Calls! If you follow this 8-week guide, you’ll be able to break up all those to-do’s into manageable steps that will leave you in the position to present your home in the best light! Check out the prior blogs in the series here: week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, and week 5.
Service Calls
Take it from me, every home needs to have it’s furnace, air conditioner, and hot water heater cleaned and serviced. Now is the time to have this done. You can find HVAC specials and deals starting around $100. I can’t tell you how many homes I’ve shown where the furnace has a half inch of dust on top and looks like it hasn’t been cared for since it was installed. This sends a message to the buyer that the home has not been well cared for. Even if the kitchen and bathrooms have just been remodeled, if a buyer sees a dusty furnace, you’re looking at a lower offer. It’s a weird reality, but one that I’ve experienced time and again.
Other types of maintenance that may require a service call:
- Fireplace/chimney cleaning
- Pool and water feature cleaning and maintenance
- Cleaning air ducts and vents (especially if you have pets)
- Lawn sprinkler system maintenance
- Dryer vent cleaning
- Sewer line cleaning
Safari tip! If your home is served by a septic system, this could be the time to have your system inspected and septic tanks pumped. Each county has specific rules regarding the inspection’s valid timeline prior to the property conveying to the new owner. Most Colorado counties REQUIRE an inspection indicating the septic system is functioning as designed, with no repairs needed. This inspection report is needed in order to actually sell the property. Call me today, and I can help guide you and provide the appropriate information for your specific situation!
If your home is supported by well water, this could also be the time to have a professional well service check the pump, the water output, and the water quality. This can offer your buyer peace of mind.
At this point, you may still be purging! Good for you! As you prepare your home for showings and/or open houses, consider removing family photos for privacy and as part of the ‘depersonalization’ process (for more details on preparing for an open house, see our blog post here). As you remove the personal photos and decorations from your home, you’ll find yourself with a few holes in your walls that you would rather not repair at this time. In this instance it might be possible to install fabric or wallpaper samples in front of the photo and, voila! you have a new temporary piece of art!