How to Prep Your Foundation for the Housing Market
Prep Your Foundation to Sell
With spring just around the corner, Denver and the surrounding areas are gearing up for real estate season to start booming again. If you’re looking for a spring or early summer sell, you might be missing one big thing on your checklist that will come back to bite you if you don’t handle it professionally and carefully. That’s right, we’re talking foundation. There are so many things to pay attention to when getting ready to go to market that it’s easy to forget about one of the most important things contributing to the structural integrity of your home. But sellers beware – neglecting to prep your foundation could have serious negative impact on your ability to sell.
Foundation Inspections
This isn’t a DIY job – when you’re getting ready to put your house on the market, you want to bring in the professionals. Have a trusted foundation and structural expert come in and evaluate the current condition of your home’s foundation and check for any flaws or issues you will need to either get fixed before the sell or disclose.
Keep a Record
If you’re still a ways out from hitting the market but you want to get a head start, we encourage homeowners to develop a photo library with timestamps and descriptions of any cracks, or apparent flaws. Continue photographing them on a regular basis so you have proof of any growth or lack thereof and can overcome objections potential buyers may have before they even crop up. Plus, it’s good for your posterity as a homeowner to have something to look at and identify problems before they are unavoidable and extremely costly.
Be Forthcoming
You can’t get away with leaving information between the lines when it comes to your foundation and selling your home. You have to be transparent and forthcoming, so it’s best to arm yourself with all the knowledge possible. Cutting corners will only come back to hurt you when you try to sell, and could come back to haunt you big time financially in the form of fees, fines, and even legal action. Be prepared to share all the information and have the documentation to back it up when prospective buyers ask – or even beforehand!
Selling your home has so many moving pieces, but knowing how to ensure your bases are covered structurally speaking can make a big difference in how well the sale goes and how quickly your home gets off the market once you decide to put that “For Sale” sign up. If you’re looking for a professional team to help evaluate and check that foundation prep box off the list of pre-sale must haves, give us a call at (720) 202-7015 or schedule a free estimate. We’d be happy to help!