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Making Repairs To Your Ft. Lauderdale Home

There is nothing more frustrating when showing a property than walking into a room and flicking on a light switch only to find that nothing happens. Or worse yet, sliding open the shower curtain in the bathroom and seeing rainbow colored mold and mildew growing in the grout lines around the tub.

Many home repairs are simple to execute and very inexpensive; like replacing burned out light bulbs. It just takes a little time and effort on your part. You may have grown accustomed to the look, however, when a prospective buyer starts noticing little things that are wrong with your home they will begin to wonder what else might be wrong.

Unless you are planning on selling your property "As IS", meaning you don't intend to pay for any repairs that are uncovered by an inspection report, most offers that you'll be getting on your home will call for you to contribute (usually up to 1.5% of the purchase price) towards any warrantied items. Warrantied items include electrical wiring, plumbing, air conditioning, appliances, windows, doors, the roof and any other structural elements.

Home inspectors estimate repair costs based upon what it would cost to hire a licensed contractor to fix the problem. A repair estimate to fix a broken grout line around the bathtub could be as high as $250 because the inspector is figuring on how much a licensed plumber would charge. Yikes! Small repairs like this can really add up in a hurry. Do yourself a favor and try to take on as many of the small repairs yourself and save a bundle in the long run.

If you are inexperienced with home repairs here are a couple of useful tips:

  • Jump into your SUV and run over to the nearest Home Depot. The folks that work there are more than ready to explain how to “do-it-yourself”. Besides picking up some useful tidbits on how to fix up your place, you might just make a new friend. Who knows?

  • If doing the whole Home Depot thing is not for you, you might want to consider calling on your neighbor. He/she probably has every sized screwdriver and drill bit that you can imagine. And, they’ll probably cherish the opportunity to “show you how to do it… show you how it’s done”.

  • Remember, that as a seller of property in Florida that you have the responsibility of seller disclosure. You must disclose anything that is materially wrong with your property such as a leaky roof, faulty plumbing or wiring to mention a few. Go ahead and touch up damaged areas. You don’t have to advertise, but you do have to disclose.

 
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