Despite this being a sellers market, I’m stressing a little bit about getting the house ready to (eventually) list for sale.
It seems like there is a lot that we could do, and every day a new issue seems to reveal itself to me. I guess I need to figure out what the priorities should be and the cost/benefit for each project. And probably not try to get it in perfect shape.
Things to stress and/or pray about:
We’ve had an issue with a little water in the basement after hard rains. It’s in what seems an odd place, on the wall below what is our poured cement front porch. The yard slopes away from the house and the porch is covered. I’m not entirely sure where this water could be coming from. Could it be one of the drainpipes from a downspout is routed under the front porch and is damaged? There is also a storm sewer that, from its location, I presume runs right between our property and our neighbors and into a catch basin in our back yard. That would still be quite some distance from where the leak is manifesting itself. I have nightmares that when the house was constructed the builder did something stupid. I hate to think about ripping up the porch to fix this, but don’t know that a lot could be done from the inside. I suppose it’s time to call in the professionals to evaluate.
In the fall we had a damaged downspout and some flashing replaced and thought it might have solved the problem, but it still happens (perhaps a little less so) with large rainfalls. The roof is in good shape. There don’t seem to be any foundation issues, at least yet, though there are a few minor cracks in the basement floor.
One day a couple of weeks ago, I discovered some of our duct work was hanging low from the ceiling in the basement. The nails in the hanging brackets had worked themselves loose over time. That was, at least, an easy fix.
Today I discovered that some ants decided one of our 2nd floor windows was a nice spot to take up residence. There seems to be quite a bit of damage to the window sash and a little to the sill. So, I’m thinking I need to replace this window, at least. Windows are original (30 years) so trying to decide if it makes sense to replace all of the windows, or maybe all of the second floor windows, or just the damaged one. I did spray the heck out of the affected area, but also thinking I need to call a pest control company. Wondering if they or other pests are hanging out elsewhere in the walls of the house.
Wondering how turned off a buyer might be by old worn carpeting. If I was sure what flooring buyers would most prefer, I’d not hesitate to replace the carpets or install hardwood or laminate flooring. But I’d also hate to put something in and have it torn up and replaced because it wasn’t what someone wanted.
Does it make sense to have an inspection soon, before we list the house so that we can get on top of anything else we haven’t discovered that might be a problem?
I’ve got a handyman with very reasonable rates doing some drywall repair and painting this week and last. Some of the previous color choices were probably not the best they could have been, so we’re trying to make it look a little more cohesive for showing. He’ll be back for some more painting next week and any other little fixes we come up with. At this stage of my life, it’s better that I pay someone else to do a lot of this stuff than to try to do it myself.
Kitchen, Master bath and most of the lighting was redone within the last 5 years. Also 2 skylights were replaced in the fall.
May do a mini-update on the other bathroom and a half. Nothing major, just repaint and replace a couple of fixtures. We already have lights ready to install, but it would make sense for the towel bars and vanity knobs to coordinate with the new lights. Shouldn’t be expensive.
Trying to decide how much to budget for landscaping. I’d like to at least reclaim some of the overgrown area of the back yard around our catch basin and make it look a little nicer.
Not necessarily looking for advise or answers, though I would entertain comments. I’m mostly just trying to get my thoughts in order and hoping I don’t have to spend megabucks to get the place in shape. Given the current housing market, it might sell quickly even with (some of) its flaws.