How you can update your home for nothing out of pocket

So you’ve decided to sell your home. Great! Now what? You have your list of repairs or updates you’ve been thinking of doing to enhance the sales price, and to make the whole process easier. That’s all well and good. But contractors can be notoriously unreliable and uncommunicative, and you never really know what you’re getting. And that’s if they even call you back!

But what if you didn’t have to settle? What if there was a program that guaranteed good quality work on your home, on a timeline that works for your moving plans, and…check this out… potentially paying nothing out of pocket?

Introducing Windermere’s new Market Ready program! Market Ready is a new service provided by Windermere Professional Partners agents like me, with the aim of taking the pain out of pre-listing repairs and updates. When we work together, you will have access to over 60 licensed, insured, and vetted contractors providing any service you can imagine: plumbing, roofing, bathroom remodeling, landscaping – and much more.

In exchange for being part of the Market Ready program, these contractors all agree to the following:

• They must return your call within 24 hours of you first engaging them.
• They must offer at least a 5% discount to you for their services compared to non-sellers.
• Almost all of them give you the option of paying them through your closing proceeds when your home sells, rather than out-of-pocket before the home goes on the market.

You read that last one right. If you wanted a new roof installed before selling your house for instance, you can get it done without paying out of pocket. You can then price your home to account for a brand new roof, and enjoy higher-priced offers as a result.

Most experienced listing agents will tell you that the physical condition of your house has a profound impact on selling price. It’s not simply that buyers are willing to pay more for a good condition home. It’s that when your home is in great shape, it has a bigger pool of buyers who will even consider buying it at all. In the North End of Tacoma, for example, the typical sales price is on average 1% higher than the list price, and the typical home goes under contract within 5 days. This means bidding wars in our area are still common in the COVID market. Incidentally – North End homes went up almost 16% in value in the past year.

Which of those properties do you think are getting multiple offers on the first weekend: the houses with challenged condition, or the remodeled dream homes? The answer is pretty obvious. The other factor to consider is the quality of the offers you receive. Are the buyers bringing their “A game” and bidding up the price, or are they trying to lowball you? Will they use the home inspection to ask you for a laundry list of repairs, or will they waive their inspection because it’s so competitive? Condition matters!

I am not saying that remodeling is mandatory for a successful sale. But it’s indisputable that the better your home’s conditions is, the more favorable a position you will be in when your home goes on the market.

Don’t take chances when you sell your home. You deserve the highest, best offers possible on the place you lived in all these years. If you would ever like more information on the Market Ready program – or any other tools I can use to get you the best possible return – email me anytime you like.

Anders Ibsen

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