Foreclosure Home Repair Strategy
Concentrate on critical areas, spend less, and get more value in repairing and improving your foreclosure property.
Your foreclosure repair strategy must be to:
- Create the highest possible value-added with the least amount of money; and
- Make the property more marketable.
Eliminate negative view: First impression when you look at a foreclosure house is the ultimate key to successful rehabilitation.
Most buyers don’t even bother getting out of their cars if there is no curb appeal. Your foreclosure real estate should look inviting. So, start your repair job from the exterior rather than interior!
Let the sunshine in! Add more windows and take off dark-colored curtains. Replace them with light-colored, semi-transparent ones, and add skylights. Replace solid doors with those having windows.
The following areas bring the highest returns in fixing up foreclosure homes:
- Kitchen and
- Bathrooms
Kitchen first! Why kitchen first? Kitchen is a place where we prepare food and cook. Every time we need to eat or drink something we go to the kitchen. Therefore, it becomes a main activity area for everybody.
Create usable space! Add new rooms, convert attics, or basements into a living place. Create closet space. If you plan to make structural changes such as enlarging a room, a good place to start is the kitchen.
Quality of Material: Unless you intend to live in the property, you should buy less expensive materials. If the foreclosure house is in a low to middle-income area, you don’t have to buy custom-made or expensive materials. Let the new owner select the quality material of his or her own taste.
Tip for selecting paints: In general, the price of paint may be misleading. Cheap paints may require a second coat of paint, which will cost you more. Good quality paints may require only one layer of paint due to its higher quality and increased density.
Flat or glossy paint? Flat paints are good to hide damage on walls, while glossy paints do the opposite while reflecting light better.
Spend more time on the kitchen and bathroom walls.
Generous painting: One final item that you really need to care about is the paint. Just imagine the amount of surface paint covers. Be generous when you buy paint.
- It will pay off well when you sell the property.
- This also holds true if you decide to live in the home.
High-leverage added value: Following items add the greatest value to foreclosure property:
- Curb appeal. (Buy new front door or repaint it. Put plants and flowers in the front yard. Buy a new mailbox or repaint it. Get new home numbers.)
- Ceiling fans
- Lighting fixtures (brass lamps for front door and crystal/glass chandeliers inside)
- Mirrors
- Mini blinds
- Security system
- Microwave oven
- Hot tub
- New toilet seats
- Faucets
- Door knobs
- Outside lamps
- Garage door opener
You don’t need to spend a fortune in repairing, rehabbing, and improving foreclosure home. Start with discovering defects and problems during your foreclosure inspection and continue with estimating foreclosure repair costs is important before your buy the foreclosure property.
Concentrate on curb appeal, kitchen, and bathrooms of foreclosure property. Get more light into the house and spend more for painting to add maximum value to your foreclosure home.
Hire a handyman for odd repair jobs that you do not want to handle. Ask your home insurance company to add workman's comp policy as handyman may not have an insurance coverage.
About the Author: John Anderson worked as real estate agent, Realtor® in Florida and Virginia, certified home inspector in California, and publishes foreclosure newsletters on bank and government owned foreclosures.
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