The top repairs that prepare a property for market

Home Renovation

Team MONEYME|19 July 2022| 2-minute read

After a few years all homes require a little maintenance, from the loose floorboard to the leaky bathroom tap.

Homeowners can easily forget to repair things around the house but when you’re selling a property, it’s the little things that can make a big difference to the property’s final sale price.

For First National North selling principal, Robert Bagala repair work affects the sale price on almost every single occasion.

“The idea of undergoing this type of work is to capture the widest audience in a broad range of buyers,” said Bagala. “From those who are unwilling or unable to allocate the time for a renovation, or lack the creativity or resources to put together a project in terms of a restoration or renovation.”

There are some repairs in particular that all real estate agents should consider before selling a property.

A paint job that sells

What’s old is new again with the right paint job. 

Smoothing over imperfections, and presenting a clean and fresh aesthetic painting can go a long way in buyers’ eyes.

“Painting is a very big thing,” said Kristian Novatsis, property partner at The Agency Perth. “Depending on how long you’ve been in the home, a fresh coat of paint makes a big difference.”

In April last year, Novatsis sold a property that had previously struggled to attract any buyers. 

The vendor, eager to sell the property as quickly as possible, ignored the agent’s advice and took the Stirling house to market without doing any of the repairs recommended by Novatsis.

“There were a lot of water stains on the roof, which buyers thought was a leak,” he said.” The leak had already been repaired, he just never repainted it.”

The property received no offers. 

“We ripped it from the market and the seller invested about $35, 000 into the home. We put it back on the market, about six weeks after that, and lo and behold, we got an extra $85,000 on top of the money spent on the home,” he said.

Front to back, the outside matters

From the first moment buyers stand in front of a property they start making an assessment. 

“My main thing that I tell my sellers is the front facade,” said Novatsis. 

“If the front of the home is not looking perfect or there are damages to the front of the property buyers will automatically walk into the home with a negative mindset.”

The importance of exterior repair work was on show once again when Bagala sold a four-bedroom home with a large front and back garden in Ryde, NSW.

“The owners did a very extensive freshen up,” he said. 

Along with internal and external painting, and tapware maintenance in the kitchen and bathroom, the vendors went about performing significant landscaping upgrades to 287 Morrison Road in Ryde, NSW.  

“I think it would probably be fair to say the investment was tenfold,” he said. “A $30,000 or $40,000 investment easily returned them in circa $300,000 more than expected.”

Make sure that your next listing is repaired and ready for market. To learn more, visit ListReady.