When you decide to sell your home, you will have several tasks to take care of before you put your home on the market. Knowing the right things to do in preparing to sell your home can make a big difference when it comes to increasing its value. In order to add as much value as possible, you want to 
strategize your preparation plans so that you remember to follow through on every single thing on your to-do list. For over 25 years, All Seasons Chimney has been helping homeowners across the lower Hudson Valley region with our superior professional chimney maintenance, repair, and installation services, which include providing the Level 2 chimney inspections that are required for real estate transactions. We would like to take the opportunity to tell you more about what you need to do when you are preparing to sell your home to help you when you are making your checklist.
CLEANING
When you are getting ready to sell your home, it can be a good idea to hire a professional cleaning service to get things ready for the best possible real estate pictures, but if you are on a tight budget, you may want to take care of the cleaning chores on your own. A thorough cleaning typically includes vacuuming the carpet, mopping hard floors, cleaning countertops and windows, and removing all clutter from each room. As you are removing clutter from every room, you should consider that many real estate experts recommend that you should also depersonalize your home by taking down family photos, placing children’s toys in storage, and removing books, magazines, and other personal items. If you are still living in your home while it is on the market, you will want to find creative storage options, such as labeling every box and stacking these boxes in your garage so that you can easily access things while still allowing potential buyers to walk around your home. HomeLight reminds homeowners to remember to include the exterior when depersonalizing their homes. You want the inside and the outside of your home to be as clean and neutral as possible. When you are cleaning the exterior of your home, you should also remember to include your roof if you are having your home pressure washed. Dirt can make the roof appear to be older than it actually is, which can be a turn-off to homebuyers.
PICTURES
Since the first time, the majority of your potential homebuyers will be seeing your home will be online, taking pictures of your home is one of the most important tasks when you are preparing to sell it. After you have cleaned and depersonalized your home, you are ready to begin this task. You may want to consider hiring a professional photographer to take these important pictures since statistics have shown that high-quality photographs can help sell homes much more quickly. If you feel too overwhelmed to update the decor of your home, you might even want to find a company that offers comprehensive services to home sellers that include cleaning, staging and taking pictures of your home. This can greatly simplify the process of preparing to sell your house.
INSPECTIONS
Before you list your home for sale, you need to have a professional home inspection. This allows you to take care of any potential issues, which can save you time during the closing process. This inspection is important because when a possible buyer makes an offer on your home, he or she will also have an inspection performed to ensure all of the systems in the home are functioning efficiently and safely. If the buyer finds any problems, he or she will be able to renegotiate the offer or ask for repairs to take place before the sale is final. Typically, a home inspector will take a few hours to go through the interior and the exterior of the house. After the inspection takes place, the report generally will be complete after three to four days. The key thing that home inspectors are looking for are safety issues that can include water damage, structural problems, insect and pest infestation, and damaged electrical and plumbing systems. If your home has a chimney and fireplace system, you will need to contact a professional chimney company such as All Seasons Chimney to have that inspected. The majority of home inspectors will not examine the chimney and fireplace system as closely as our team of professionals who have been trained and certified by industry leaders like the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) to perform Level 2 chimney inspections, which are required in real estate transactions. You can count on us to ensure that there are no safety hazards present in your chimney and fireplace system.
If you are thinking about selling your home, it can be helpful to consider the different tasks you will need to take care of in preparation to put your home on the market. Contact us today at All Seasons Chimney to schedule an appointment for our professional chimney inspection services. We are here for all of your professional chimney maintenance, repair, and installation needs.