Replacing vs. Repairing
I play games with my buyers when we are house shopping. I ask them to give me a couple of words that describe the house that will help them remember the property. These are some of the comments:
- The ugly carpet house (all different colors)
- The cat pee house (no need to explain)
- The house with the black bedroom (we could hardly see in there)
- The pug house (like in lots of puppies – pee yew)
- The palm tree house (neon no less in the living room)
- The blue house (and I do mean everything was blue – my buyers hated blue)
- The weird decorated house (strange, very strange)
- The unfinished house (in the middle of removing wallpaper and other projects)
- The weed house (you could hardly see the house)
- The red kitchen and rooster house (hundreds of them)
- The ugly wallpaper house
- The pool table house (common guys – not in the living room)
- The little old lady house (it looked old, smelled old and was old)
- The beer can house (that collection has to go)
All these homes require repairs or replacing. We can advise you as to which ones are cost effective. Some things you may think are really cool, like the black bedroom are a real negative to the buyer. All they can think of is I’ll have to paint that room five times.
Let’s see that’s about five gallons of paint and oh yes, don’t forget my time at $100 an hour. Sometimes sellers are reluctant to make repairs, but you will find you will “pay now or pay later.” Failure to make repairs or replace items that need replacing will result in a lower sales price and possibly money being held in escrow until all the repairs are made. By doing the repairs upfront, you control the price of the repairs and your house will sell faster and at a higher price. Time well spent. The buyer will say, “Oh Rhett, we don’t have to do a thing to this house, do we Rhett? Can I have it Rhett? You know I want it Rhett? I’ll make you dinner every night, I promise.” Save time and call a home stager to help you with these decisions.
