7 Problems You Should Fix Immediately Before Selling Your Home

25.02.2024 - 12:21 / thespruce.com

Every homeowner knows a thing or two about how flipping certain spaces—namely the kitchen and bath—can help sell the home. However, prospective sellers should also pay attention to the minute and unobservable details and repairs that can slow down or cancel a sale.

Here are seven issues that real estate professionals recommend homeowners address.

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Make any necessary repairs to blaring problems in the flooring, be it a crack, chip, or tear, depending on the material. People will often notice and acknowledge floors that are in good or bad condition when viewing a home but tend to see flooring refurbishment as a huge hassle they don’t want to undertake.

Also, in the current market, hardwood floors are more attractive to buyers than carpeting, so consider replacing carpeted or tiled floors—except for tiled kitchen and bath spaces—with new hardwood or even engineered-wood flooring. The investment could lure in more buyers and a higher price.

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Both sellers and buyers may think a leak is minor and can be held at bay by positioning a bucket under the leak until one gets around to repairing it. But ignoring it even for what seems like a short period can lead to more costly problems.

“While it can be tempting for a seller to ignore a minor leak, that leak will grow and could become mold—and mold remediation is quite expensive,” Florence Saade, a realtor associated with Brown Harris Stevens, says.

While buyers might not spot the problem in the initial tour, home inspections will reveal it and sellers have a legal obligation to disclose any known issues to potential buyers.

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“Buyers can get a good idea of the home just by looking at it from the street,” Saade says.