6 things to do before putting your home up for sale (Part 1) - by JENNIFER V. HUGHES
You've been thinking of selling your home for several years, so you can downsize or head off to retirement bliss. But the depressed housing market had you spooked, so you delayed your plans — until now.
You're finally convinced the market has hit bottom and will head up again, albeit slowly. So you are ready to take the plunge and put your house on the market.
What to do?
By now you probably have a long list of to-do items, some obvious, others maybe not. Conversations with North Jersey real estate agents and other housing professionals turned up this list of a half-dozen tips on what to do before you put your house up for sale.
Consider a home warranty
Not long ago, the real estate agent Barbara Wilke was working with a seller in Ridgewood on a home that was in decent condition, but older.
"The house had been pretty well maintained, but there were not many updates. Things were pretty old," said Wilke, broker and sales associate with Keller Williams Village Square Realty.
The seller decided to offer a home warranty that would cover most of the cost of repairs if something broke down.
"A single mom wound up purchasing it," said Wilke. "That gave her a year of comfort knowing that if anything happened, like to the heating system, it would be repaired, and she didn't have to worry about the cost."
"It was just a few hundred dollars to the seller, but it really made the difference," she said.
Offering a home warranty is just one of several things a seller can to do try to make a home really stand out in a soft market.
You'd pay a contract fee — either in one lump sum, or spread out over a year — to offer the coverage. You can chose to cover everything in the home from the HVAC system to the appliances, or pick and choose. Contract costs are about $300 to $500, said Peter Tosches, senior vice president of corporate communications for ServiceMaster, parent of the home warranty company American Home Shield.
If the new buyer ends up having a problem, they'd have to pay a small service charge. That price varies depending on what's broken, but Tosches said it can range from $65 to $100.
"It definitely adds a great deal of value when people are trying to sell, especially when there are a lot of properties on the market," said Tosches. "It can really set your home apart from the competition."
Tosches said it is good to have that piece of mind, especially in today's shaky economy, when everyone is nervous about the future.
Before buying a home warranty, it's a good idea to check out the warranty company with consumer officials and the Better Business Bureau. According to the online review company Angie's List, home warranty companies have consistently gotten the worst grades among service companies for seven years, with homeowners complaining about the coverage limits and the quality of repairs..."
If you can't wait to find out the rest of the items, the article can be found by clicking here:
Please let us know how we can help you with the sale of your home.
-Daniel Barli, Esq.
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