Getting a slightly dirty/ used up house ready to sell...?

Question

Husband and I moved into our house a little less than 5 years ago. Thinking of selling but don't really have the money to fix it up. We have lots of mildew and grout in the shower area, tile in one of the bathrooms is starting to come up, security gate on front door is shorter than the actual size of the front door>STUPID HOME DEPOT! and we have a crack in the master bedroom's mirror coset door! Landscaping great in the front, backyard not so great but good enough. Carpet has major stains due to my rambunctious toddler! What do I do??

Answer 1

There's no way I can give you advice to cover all this stuff up and decieve prospective buyers. However, little solutions are:

Mildew in the bathroom, almost any cleaner and scrub the hell out of it. It takes more elbow-grease than anything. As for the tile, or any other loose tiles, they will definitely sell an easy to use grout mixture at the stupid Home Depot you speak of.

I don't know what the security gate is that you talk about and the bedroom's mirror closet door may just come straight off. Also, a cheap closet door set shouldn't cost more than $100. But those are going to be cheap doors.

As for the carpet, if you haven't had it cleaned then have it cleaned professionally. A Stanley Steamer type will come out for about $60 basic whole house and will do a pretty good stain removal for maybe $120. You can also shop the yellow pages. I have found independent cleaners who are cheaper and do a better job because they need to compete with a Stanley Steamer type, just be honest with the independent business people. Stanley will tell you they can do anything and next thing you know, BAM, $200 bill. Be honest and prudent.

Lastly, landscaping, if you have any of those channels like TLC or whatever that show you how to fix up homes and yards for sale take some of their ideas. Believe me, those ideas are that easy and cheap. One is Flip this house, or flip that house, they're two different shows, but the one with the buff red-headed gay guy is the better one. Landacaping, simple stuff that you can find on sale at K-Marts, Wal-Marts, Targets, Home Depot, etc... will all make you backyard look a million times better. All you need is some fresh soil to keep it alive, a few small tools to help in the procedure, some small, colorful plants and flowers, some decent bordering rocks, stones, or whatever, and once again some elbow grease.

Bathroom = $30
Front Door = ?
Closet = $100 max
Carpet = $150 max
Landscaping = $200 max
= $480, not including the front door but it will take a lot of hard work. The hard work is necesarry. If you want the most you can get out of selling your home, than take these couple of steps to ensure a quality bid or sell.

Answer 2

Get a really good real estate agent who knows handymen, home repair and installation contractors, and landscape contractors. The real estate agent will fix up your house so that it has the highest marketability possible.

The repairs? Come out of the escrow account, not your pocket.

My husband and I had to move and quick-sell because he got a job in a new region -- we had no money to do repairs, either, and our house was mid-repair, the carpet had stains that I never could identify, and my living room was this awful shade of purpley-pink from when we moved in. Because our agent knew who to call, we ended up only paying out about $10,000 in repairs at the sale's close. Now, we did live in an area which had a huge demand for housing (the value of our home tripled in 6 years), so we were able to sell quickly and get the workmen paid in a timely manner.

Answer 3

Do the small things that you can afford to fix, but more importantly, make sure it's clean. Tilex is great for mold and mildew, and there's a spray called Mean Green that will clean just about anything else. Small repairs are less of a put off to a potential home buyer than a dirty house.

Just keep in mind that you can't ask as much for a house that needs repairs as you could for one that doesn't.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

sell it as a fixer upper