wiring and functional windows. With finance-mandated home inspections, any shortcomings may be required to be remedied to get buyer financing approval. It is important to understand that the market value of a home is determined by the prices of comparable homes recently sold in the area. Extensive remodeling to sell the home or to increase the value may not pay off. The property needs to be up to the standards of neighboring homes, so while the kitchen has to be comparable to others, as in the example above, spending $25,000 to remodel a kitchen in an area where comparable updated homes recently sold for $275,000 will not increase the house’s value to $300,000. While it may be a helpful selling feature, it won’t return dollar-for-dollar value. However, if the other homes that sold for $275,000 had fully upgraded kitchen and bathrooms, you can expect to get much less for your home as the "HGTV crowd" is looking for those turn key homes. Also remember from a previous chapter, something that may cost 15K for you to update will, in the mind of a buyer, cost 25K or more. This will result in lower offers than if you do the work first.
MECHANICAL MAINTEN CAL MAINTENANCE IS A MUS CE IS A MUST
It is easy to get wrapped up in the more eye-pleasing aspects of preparing a home to sell. However, the upkeep of all the more mundane aspects of the home cannot be overlooked.
These mechanical features require consideration:
• Electrical boxes and wiring • Natural gas lines • Plumbing • Central heating and air-conditioning or boilers • Hot water heaters • Older inefficient appliances
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