Tips

The Most Common Maintenance Mistakes You Need To Avoid

During the holidays, you may notice a few things that need to be taken care of around the house. But not all maintenance efforts are created equal—and some of your actions can actually make problems worse instead of better.

In a recent article on Apartment Therapy, a panel of home inspectors shared the maintenance mistakes most homeowners make to fix their home, including:

  • Painting over water damage
  • Not changing the HVAC filter
  • Overlooking small cracks in the foundation
  • Improperly-installed air conditioning units
  • Lazy weatherstripping

What does that mean for you? These small maintenance mistakes can cost you big time, especially if you’re getting ready to sell your home, so make sure that you’re handling them the right way when you’re facing any potential maintenance issues.

Thinking About Waiting Until Spring to Sell Your Home? You May Want to Think Again

In normal years, the winter can be a tough time to sell your home; there are often fewer buyers, making it challenging to sell your home quickly and profitably—which often drives sellers to wait until spring to list their home.

But 2021 was not a normal year—and if you’re thinking about waiting until the spring to sell your home, you may want to think again.

A recent article from realtor.com outlined the key reasons why homeowners should sell their home this winter (as opposed to waiting for spring), including:

  • There aren’t a lot of homes for sale—and the ones that are for sale are selling fast if priced right. Markets across the US are struggling with low inventory, and Indianapolis is no different. There simply aren’t enough homes on the market to satisfy buyers—and that means the available homes are selling quickly.
  • Home prices are at an all-time high. As a homeowner, you want to sell your home for the highest price possible—and that time is now. Here in Indy, home prices are still running 12% stronger than a year ago, tapered off 2% from October. The most recent report can be found here
  • Interest rates are increasing. Mortgage interest rates have been at historic lows for nearly two years, driving huge numbers of new buyers into the market. But those numbers are starting to increase, with the Mortgage Bankers Association projecting 4 percent interest rates by the end of 2022. This increase in interest rates could decrease buyers’ spending power—and make it harder to fetch top dollar for your home.

 The Takeaway: The market is incredibly favorable to sellers this winter—so if you’ve been thinking about pushing your home sale until the spring, you may want to reconsider. Let’s talk through the details.

Time = Money

If you watch any bit of TV, you know that “Do-It-Yourself” Projects are still going strong. My favorite is still “This Old House.” I tell my clients that they can do a lot of projects themselves, but one “project” that you should NOT tackle is Selling/Buying Your Home. I say this not because I am a Broker and want your business. Instead, I speak with over 40 years of real-life experiences with Today’s Buyers and Sellers.

It comes down to Time = Money.

A perfect example is speaking with a client last month as they tried to line up surveyors and zoning boards for a piece of land they wanted to sell. It took them over a month to finally call me. They were exhausted and frustrated, to say the least. I was able to get the ball rolling in a week.

By contacting me first and leveraging our network and experience, I could have saved him three weeks. The bottom line is time = money. So give us a call before you embark on the journey.

We work harder to make good things happen!