Prepping to Sale

We contacted our realtor to set up a walkthrough of our property. He sold the house to my husband five years ago and is a family friend.  He noted some updates and changes we needed to make to get top dollar. We immediately contacted our contractor to get started on the work. The townhouse was built in the 90s. It had laminate counters and white appliances. The cabinets are in pretty good shape. We didn’t plan on doing a full kitchen remodel so we purchased simple granite counters and stainless steel appliances. We had to be comparable to newer townhomes on the market that have granite and stainless steel.  Ceramic tiles were added to the kitchen and bathroom floors before my husband moved. That saved us a ton. The house was in pretty good shape so we didn’t have to invest a lot of money, just a bunch of small things.

Townhouse Kitchen Before:

Townhouse Kitchen After:

 

Here is a list of things we updated before putting the house on the market:

• Added granite counters and stainless steel appliances to the kitchen
• Pressure washed, restrained and repainted the deck.  (The previous owners painted the deck which was a headache. The paint was badly chipped.)
• Replaced wood under window frames (The wood frame under the windows on the back of the house was rooting.)
• Repainted the basement
• Wiped down all the walls
• Major house cleaning
• Hired Stanley Steamer to clean the carpets. (we tried to cut costs by not replacing the carpets)
• Washed light fixtures that were dusty.
• Fixed a broken bathroom fan
• Repainted the front door frame and trim
• Repainted the garage door frame and trim
• Cleaned up the yard. (I attempted to plant flowers… Total fail! I purchased flower pots instead)
• Uncluttered the house. (Purchased a storage unit)
• Replaced broken toilet
• Fixed drywall from a busted pipe that we fixed years ago

Major Key: Having our realtor walk through the property before we put it on the market was a big help. We fixed a bunch of small things that the home inspectors would’ve noticed.  We ended up saving time and money. When the home is under contract the state (MD) requires licensed contractors to complete any improvements. This is fine for some but for small things like we had non-licensed is just as good.