You Want Peace of Mind? Here are five things to prepare for selling your home!

Are you thinking about selling your house? Here are five easy things to do before you list it that will not only make the sale of your house more likely to happen but, once it is under contract, these tips guarantee the transaction will flow more easily towards the happy outcome you and the buyers want and deserve!

Ready?

1) Clean and inspect your boiler/furnace/pellet or wood stove/heat pump or whatever type of heating system you have. Proof of recent servicing from a professional (certified, where possible), is an important show of good faith to the buyer that you have been taking good care of the home.

2) Have your chimney(s) professionally cleaned and inspected and reported to be in good working order. If the chimney expert recommends a lining simply disclose this in the listing and then you will be in a better place to say no to a buyer’s request that you have the chimney lined after the buyer’s inspector tells the buyer that the chimney is not lined.

3) Have your septic system pumped and inspected. Of course, if you are on town sewer, you can just ignore this one!

4) Have a basic water test done if your supply is from a well or a spring. If you're on your Town's water system, you can ignore this step as well.

5) Have a licensed electrician make sure your electrical system is up to current codes. You might have "updated everything" in just the last couple of years, however it is very possible that your house is not up to code because (no shock here!) the code is so frequently updated. Generally speaking, it is fairly inexpensive to add extra Ground Fault Circuit Interruptors (GFCI’s). If you have an older home, have your electrician check for any active knob and tube wiring. If the electrician finds any it is a good idea to disclose this, just like the chimney liner.

For all of the above, be sure to keep all receipts! This way, your Realtor can attach copies to your listing as proof for all the world to see!

Doing these things not only helps you avoid surprises but it also sends a subtle but good message/feeling to the buyers (and buyer’s agent) that you have been a good steward of the home and that they needn’t worry too much about the any hidden, and perhaps expensive flaws that will surface within days after they own the property.

Finally, if your house doesn’t sell for whatever reason, doing these five steps will certainly give you great peace of mind!  At least you know you are that much further removed from an unexpected repair, or worse, a chimney fire, or a septic failure!

Sue Aldrich
Owner/Broker
Coldwell Banker Classic Properties
3336 Airport Road, Suite #3 - Berlin
Barre, VT  05641
802-839-0213

www.vtclassicproperties.com