Get Ready - Your home is the star performer in this show. Even the best marketing
and promotion efforts will fall short if your home isn't appealing to potential buyers.
Prep Your Home
There are a number of things to consider when getting your home ready for market. By addressing
these items early - before the sales effort begins - you can insure that your home will show its
best side to buyers.
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Seller Liability
Many sellers do not realize the extent of their potential liability after the sale. While
local laws vary considerably, a seller is generally required to disclose any deficiencies
of which he or she is aware. This is the problem - how do you prove exactly what you did or
did not know? Our disclosure checklist can provide
a starting point by helping you determine which items are disclosure issues. A pre-sale inspection
by a reputable inspector can be an ideal way to protect yourself against disclosure related
claims after the closing.
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Pre-Sale Inspections
Inspections are for buyer's, right? That is a popular perception, but the truth is that a
pre-market inspection can be a very valuable tool for a seller. Since the buyer is probably
going to have an inspection anyway, why not find out about any problems upfront so you're
not taken by surprise a few weeks before the closing date? A pre-sale inspection can also
help protect against potential seller liability - if the inspector
didn't find a problem it is a reasonable assertion that the seller did not know about it either.
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Clean, Clean, Clean
A home for sale can never be too clean. In addition to a complete scrubbing you may want
to do a little rearranging to insure that your home shows as well as possible. Review our
home cleaning checklist for some ideas on where to
start.
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Major Improvements
Most major home improvements don't make sense for sellers, however there are notable exceptions
to this rule. Required repairs, or other deficiencies that must be disclosed, will likely
make it very difficult to sell your home (and you'll probably end up agreeing to correct them
anyway) - so it may be worth dealing with these items before hitting the market.
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Smaller Projects
Unlike major improvements, many small home projects can be very good investments for the
seller. Generally, the best projects to consider are those that are fairly low in cost yet
provide a major impact to the look of the property. Check out our list of 10
improvements for sellers for some ideas.
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