Getting the house ready to sell
The small things a buyer notices, and the ones an inspector writes down.
Two different audiences look at your house, and they look at different things. A buyer walking through notices the front door, the state of the paint, and whether the yard says somebody has been looking after the place. An inspector notices the roof, the water, and anything that suggests a bill.
The jobs below split roughly along that line. None of them are renovations — an agent will tell you which rooms are worth spending on, and that is a conversation about your market rather than about maintenance. These are the things that cost little and are noticed by everyone.
If you are short on time, do the outside first. It is the only part every single person who views the house will see, including the ones who drive past and keep going.
What it breaks down into
In roughly the order worth doing them. Each one goes straight to a post with the job already described — change anything you like before it goes up.
- gutter cleaningOverflow stains the fascia, and an inspector reads stains as water damage.
- exterior paintingThe single thing that most changes what a house looks like from the street.
- pressure washingA clean driveway and siding read as a well-kept house before anybody is close enough to judge.
- drywall patching and repairFilled and painted, old picture holes stop being a list of things to fix.
- roof inspectionBetter to know before a buyer’s inspector tells you, when it is a negotiation rather than a repair.
- yard cleanupOvergrown beds suggest deferred maintenance everywhere else, fairly or not.
The other guides, if this was not the one.