If you’ve been in a house or an apartment for quite a number of years, you’re no longer seeing it with any kind of objectivity.
Whether or not you’re planning to sell the place, a really great tip is to get the real estate agent in to give you an appraisal.
Keep Your Homeowners Insurance up to Date
Why is it important to undergo this process periodically? Because you need to keep your homeowners insurance (or renter’s insurance) up to date. The amount of your policy covers is the replacement cost of your home, not what the county appraises it at.
OK, maybe you have to tell a little bit of a white lie to do this — and say you’re thinking about putting the place on the market, but don’t feel too guilty. If the agents treat you with friendliness, respect and a professional approach, then you’re far more likely to use them for real in the future and to recommend their services to others.
Go Ahead, be Honest; I Can Take It
In this process, encourage the agent to be as brutally candid as he or she is willing to be. You can even tell another white lie here and say the place isn’t yours — or that you’re selling it on behalf of your aged parents, etc.
This will encourage them to point out its defects in a far more direct way than they might otherwise do. And that’s exactly what you want. The agents really know their local markets if they’re any good — and they know what people are really after — and the converse!
So they’ll tell you with a completely fresh pair of eyes what the place needs.
Another Set of Eyes to Appraise Your Property Value
Better still, if you tell the agent you’re planning to let it out to wealthy professionals on a fully-furnished basis, the letting agent is likely to be even more brutally frank, not only about the apartment or house and its fittings, garden, structure, and décor etc., — but also about your furnishings.
It’s a good way of deciding what you need to do when you’ve lost your objectivity and freshness of look at your own place. If you need to buy new stuff, search for a cheap dining table and chairs, or good quality cheap sofas and other furnishings at Harvey’s Furniture, but only if you need to.
After all, maybe the agent will tell you it’s perfect as it is?
