When getting your home ready to sell in Texas, you may have many home improvement projects in mind. However, do you know what not to fix when selling a house?
When making a list of all the necessary upgrades to your house, you may not need to fill in a few hairline cracks in your driveway or fix that one dead electrical outlet. If you’re trying to figure out what to fix up and what not to fix when selling a house, read the information below to get the best return on investment after the home sale.
Are you ready to find out more? Then let’s get started!
Things to Fix When Selling Your House
You may think that home repairs will take too much time or won’t provide a return on the investment. However, experienced repairmen and professional carpenters can work quickly and efficiently.
In addition, you can raise your home’s value through minor upgrades. You don’t want to waste time fixing up the wrong things, but you can increase the value of your home by renovating the kitchen. An entire kitchen remodeling project with new kitchen cabinets, new appliances, and better countertops can go a long way toward increasing the cost of your home.
Small renovations like replacing door knobs and upgrading faucets or a broken light fixture can get potential buyers to bid on your home. These little fixes can improve the buyers’ first impressions when they enter your house.
You’ll need the refrigerator, microwave, stove, and dishwasher working before you put your house on the real estate market. Additionally, you should ensure the bathroom is in good condition. Check the sinks, faucets, shower heads, and exhaust fans.
If the bathtub has peeling acrylic paint, you’ll need to fix it or even replace the tub if it’s gotten too old. Also, replace broken and cracked bathroom tiles.
In the rest of the house, you may need to refinish hardwood floors and replace torn carpets. If your carpets only have stains, you can get a steam cleaner to get those smudges out.
Painting the walls to cover chipped paint and discolorations is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to impress prospective buyers. When picking paint colors, make sure to choose neutral colors.
Your HVAC and water heater also need to be in good working order. You can hire a technician to fix any potential problems. Also, you need smoke and carbon dioxide alarms that are less than ten years old and working properly.
Simple steps like decluttering a house can help increase interest among prospective buyers. Also, you can improve curb appeal by getting some landscaping and yard work done. Pull out those weeds, mow the lawn, and plant some flowers and bushes. Following these tips will allow you to increase your asking price.
What Not to Fix When Selling a House
There are certain things you’ll want to avoid fixing, as doing so may not provide that much return on your investment. You don’t need to take on the hassle of fixing everything in sight.
First, you may want to talk with a real estate agent to learn more about the current real estate market. If you’re in the midst of a great seller’s market, you can probably sell your property much faster without nearly as many fixes. However, a buyer’s market is a different story.
Ask your realtor to show you a comparative market analysis. This will let you see how much money homes in your neighborhood and region are being sold for. You can then decide whether some home improvements make more sense than others. A comparative market analysis also assists in deciding what sale price to list your home at.
The type of issues to avoid fixing when selling a house include:
- Minor electrical issues
- Certain cosmetic flaws
- Minor cracks in walkways and driveways
- Grandfathered-in building code problems
- Unfinished room remodels
If your place has any dead outlets, loose outlets, or a light switch that doesn’t connect to any bulbs, you don’t need to stress about fixing those minor electrical issues. Yet, does your home have revealing wires, dangling light fixtures, old wiring systems, or outdated electrical panels? These are the major problems that will require an electrician to fix up in the home.
If your house has normal wear cosmetic issues like old or scratched countertops in the kitchen, you may not need to replace the entire thing. Home buyers usually don’t expect everything to look brand new.
Curb appeal may matter to buyers, but few will care about minor cracks in the driveways and walkways.
A home inspection report may mention building code violations. However, you will find that, as long as a property adhered to the building codes that were in place when it was first developed, the house will get grandfathered in.
If you only have enough finances or time to complete a partial upgrade of a room, you should probably avoid the project altogether. When only some of the room gets remodeled, it makes the rest look outdated. Buyers will likely focus on the inferior aspects instead.
Furthermore, if you have old and worn-out furniture or other appliances, you may want to remove them from the premises. You don’t need to replace everything you remove. Also, if an old appliance still works and looks alright, you don’t necessarily need to remove it.
Yet, if you need to get rid of necessary home appliances, buying brand-new ones may not be the only possible option. Instead, you can go on Craigslist and stop by the Salvation Army or a thrift store to get a well-functioning used appliance.
At the end of the day, there is no need to renovate more than your neighbors have. You won’t get to choose a much higher asking price than a similar home in your neighborhood, so keep the improvements minimal.
Average Cost of Fixing Up a House to Sell
The amount you may spend fixing up your house for sale can vary greatly depending on how many things need fixing and the amount of money or time you’re willing to put into the repairs. You’ll find some repairs unnecessary since they won’t greatly increase the value of your home.
You may have numerous home maintenance projects to complete, which you can designate in the following groups.
- Plumbing work
- Electricity fixes
- Termite damage
- Mold removal
- heating/cooling systems
- Gas system improvements
The amount you spend on plumbing upgrades can range from $204 to $5,145. Electricity fixes can cost anywhere from $500 to $3,509. If you have termite damage, you can spend anywhere from $500 to $2,500.
The cost of mold removal varies greatly depending on how severe the damage is. You can spend as little as $500 for a small section to $60,000 for most of your home. Repairing your HVAC system also ranges from $750 to more than $15,000. You can repair a gas leak for as little as $500 to as high as $7,000, depending on the type of fix needed.
Then you will need to consider the costs of more major renovations. If you want to remodel your bathroom, you can expect to pay an average of $11,365. The average kitchen remodel costs around $20,000. When renovating a living room, you can expect to spend an average of $23,042.
Installing one new garage door can cost around $1,000 on average while getting all new windows has an average price of $4,745. These are some of the costs you’ll need to consider before putting your house on the market.
Is It Worth Fixing Up Your House Before Selling?
You will need to consider whether you can get a significant return on your investment before you start fixing up your house. You can get advice from an experienced real estate agent on what’s worth renovating.
The costs of selling a house also go beyond repairs, as you will also need to spend on commission fees of your realtor, attorney fees, the transfer tax, property taxes, and the capital gains tax.
If your home needs too much work and you don’t have the budget for it, you can consider selling your house as-is. You can even sell your place for cash, which won’t take nearly as long when circumventing the need for a mortgage loan. Who can buy homes for cash in Texas? You can find a local real estate investor or a house flipper.
You can price your home low enough to get bids from real estate investors, contractors, and house flippers. With the help of cash home buyers and investors, you can sell a house fast in Texas without taking part in renovations.
Conclusion
After reading this guide, you should understand what to upgrade and what not to fix when selling a house. However, if your home needs too many improvements, you can try to sell the property in its current condition.
If you’re looking for cash home buyers in San Antonio, contact us today. We buy houses in Live Oak, San Antonio, and other parts of Texas.