Juggling the many aspects of preparing a home for market sale can make you feel like you’re being crushed by the weight of the house and enduring the same fate as the Wicked Witch of the East. But you can prevent being swept away by the home-damaging tornado by prepping early for inspections and breaking down these tasks into manageable parts. Here are the two of the most important aspects of home prepping with tips to make your life as a real estate agent easier and your property value higher.
Prepare for a Staging
There are several inconspicuous areas of a home you should check before staging a home. Water damage is particularly important to take notice of and to take precautions in order to avoid it. In winter months, keep the temperatures of uninhabited homes at a reasonable level to avoid potentially costly damage from burst pipes. Before opening the doors of your property to the public, check the ceilings and walls for signs of water damage. The floors will usually soften after water exposure, so a simple trek around the house can reveal trouble areas. Also, check the water drains and pipes themselves. Often former owners opt for quick fixes for leaks, such as wrapping leaky spots with cloth, and now it is up to you to track down the real problem.
Preparing for pest inspection
Signs of pests such as cockroaches and mice are quite visible, so a pest inspector requires little examination time to determine whether or not you may have a mild case of unwelcome tenants or a full-blown infestation. Termites, however, are stealthy creatures that hide beneath the surface, creeping through the infrastructure of a home, attacking the bones. Termite damage can be one of the most costly and difficult damages to repair, and it has a serious effect on real estate transactions.
To prep for the termite inspector’s visit, check the perimeter of the home’s exterior and remove any debris. Trim back any plants or brush that obstruct the foundation and the walls of the home. The soil around the house should be beneath the level of the siding of the house, so take a peek and make sure this is true. If the soil has risen above the siding, there’s a chance that water has seeped in, and where there’s water near the walls or ceilings, termites generally follow. You also want to move any boxes or storage bins away from the wall and away from the inspector’s intended path. Don’t forget to clear a path around the exterior walls in the garage, and provide the inspector easy access to enclosed areas such as underneath bathroom sinks.
Even though it may seem as if you’re fighting a never-ending battle of issues to get your property in top-selling condition, if you handle each problem as it occurs, it is not a tornado but really just a gust of wind. There’s no place like a home that is market-ready to sell.
