When you are faced with being forced to sell your home and you do not have the money to invest in repairing it, you may then have to sell it âAS-ISâ.
Here are several things you can do to give your home the best chance to sell quickly even if it needs repairs.
Think of what you can do and not what you canât doâŠâŠ
None of these ideas cost you money and it is possible they may make you some money! (OK one maybe will but only if you have no other option)
In the sellers disclosure identify what needs to be repaired. Better to disclose than to hope the buyer will not see the areas that need attention.
- Start clearing out and start selling items you do not need. Look in every nook and cranny.
- Remove all your personal pictures and notes from the walls, desks, tables and refrigerators. Buyers are not interested who is in the house they want to know about the house.
- Vacuum the carpets all over the house, under the bed, under the couch, and the chairs.
- Deep clean all of the bathrooms, and the Kitchen. Do not forget behind the stove and under the refrigerator. People will pull the shower curtain to see how clean the shower is.
- Take a damp sponge and clean off all the finger smudges of the walls by the light switches and other places you can find. Donât scrub hard be very gentle.
- Clean out overstuffed closets. Put the excess in to storage or sell it.
- Organize your kitchen. Get rid of the junk drawer (we all have one).
- Clean off the kitchen counter top. If you keep it cluttered, you are telling the buyer that you do not have enough storage room for your items.
- Clean out the garage. If you have to sell some of the stuff you have then do so!! Otherwise put it into storage. Do not use the garage as storage unless you are planning on telling the buyers that the house is too small and does not have enough storage.
- Clean up the yard!!!
- Mow the yard and keep it trimmed!!!
- Ask friends or family members if they have some plants you could plant in your yard when you have none.
- Clean your windows and open the curtains to let light in!!!
All these ideas, except for putting some of your items into storage, will cost you no extra money you would not be spending anyway. What you will be spending mostly is your effort to get it done.
The faster you can sell your home, the faster you can get back on track, and the faster you might be able to get in to a new home. The longer it takes, the larger the shortfall will be. In this case time is money!!!!