“Should I bother fixing this?” he asks me? He, of course, is someone who tells me he is thinking about putting his Guelph home up for sale. “Yes,” I say. “Definitely fix it.”
“But it seems so minor,” he continues. And he’s right. It actually is a minor thing. But my answer doesn’t change, because my answer is always the same when it comes to the issue of fixing things before listing a home for sale. Yes: whatever it is… if it’s broken, fix it.
It’s a funny think about broken stuff – even small items that are in disrepair can become almost larger than life for the buyers who are walking through your home. You never know what is going to catch someone’s attention. Trust me, I have advanced training and accreditations in buyer representation and that means I work with a lot of Guelph home buyers, and if you think that they don’t notice that ‘this or that’ is broken… think again. They do.
Guelph home buyers are very discriminating and even those “little things” that are in disrepair will catch their eye. From there, the questions start. Does this person have pride of ownership? Have they let the place go? What is behind those walls that we can’t even see? Should we run away?
Not good.
Look… you have to put your best foot forward if you’re selling your Guelph home. And if your home isn’t brand new, that’s okay – but you’d better do your best to make it look almost as good as new. After all, it’s entirely possible that your buyers are looking not just at resale homes in Guelph but also new builds. Make sure yours can compete with shinier versions!
If you doubt what I’m saying and you think that buyers don’t actually take notice of these things, try this on for size. Check out a few Guelph open houses. Go and pretend you are home buyers. Enter a home and see just how quickly your eye picks up on minor issues. So get out the tool belt and get crackin’. Fix the stuff that needs fixing and then… get moving!
Food for thought, as always. Thanks for reading.
