Deferred Maintenance - why you SHOULDN'T wait to fix that.

Maintenance is one of the biggest pain points of owning a home. The idea of maintaining and fixing a home causes many potential buyers to pause. Deferred maintenance is also one of the biggest problems with selling (or buying) a home. The Real Estate market has been going NUTS - but the price tag doesn't seem to be the biggest turn off. Even mortgage rates have become more accepted. The issue I am seeing over and over again is the condition not living up to the asking price! As a seasoned real estate agent, I've seen it all – from crumbling foundations to leaky roofs that think they're waterfalls. And let me tell you, ain't nobody got time for that!

Picture this: You're a first time buyer excited to start looking at homes! You got your pre-approval, you've done the work on your credit, and you have sacrificed big vacations in order to build up some cash. You scroll through all the pictures, make a list of homes to see, and find the right Realtor for you (Shameless plug - if you haven't found that last piece of the puzzle, give me a call...)! You pull up to the home, and it looks JUST like the pictures! Your heart pounds as you open the door, excitement making your palms sweat. You open the door, and BAM - the smell of mildew fills the air. Or worse- cat. You walk through the door, and you notice the walls have peeling wall paper, probably from the 50's, and one of the windows is stuck open two inches. The kitchen has some loose cabinet pulls, and one cabinet is entirely missing the door. Totally angled the camera away from THAT. And the counter top needs to be replaced, because while it looked ok and "deal-with-able" on your phone, Pepto-pink is SO not in right now, and this is almost the neon version of it. The bathroom has dry, cracked caulking, the peel and stick tiles are curling on almost all of the edges, and there isn't even a vanity light, just taped wires. The bedroom carpet is stained and did they even bother to vacuum before listing this? Outside there are tree limbs everywhere, overgrown bushes, and the driveway needs to be ripped out and completely redone. The list of things to love grows smaller as the list of obvious things to fix (not even looking HARD, and finding the not-so-obvious things) grows longer and longer. The basement... don't even get me started on the rusted-out oil furnace and the obvious water issues even though the Seller's Disclosure said they never had a problem.

Now, I'm not saying you should run for the hills at the first sign of a leaky faucet, but let's be real here – lots of homes are being sold as more fixers than uppers. And while getting a good deal is always great, it doesn't seem like the prices are reflecting the work that is needing to be done!

To the sellers out there - if you're hoping to get top dollar, sometimes you have to spend a few. In an active market like we are still in - if your home is sitting for a while, it's time to reevaluate your price, and sometimes the things that could be repaired/polished up/changed for the better. If you can't or don't want to do the work, that's fine - but maybe negotiate on your price a bit... Don't expect the next buyer to pay for the work you haven't done. To the buyers out there - find someone who knows what is easy, what is not - what is worth the work and what will become the money pit. Some work is definitely expected - especially if your budget is tight. No home is perfect - even $1M homes! But some properties will never find the bottom of their money pit. Don't fall into one! Find the right balance of work you CAN do (Appreciation is a great way to increase your equity position in a home!), and what you pay for the property itself.