Deferred Maintenance

1. Deferred Maintenance

A lack of normal upkeep. Deferred maintenance is an appraisal term used to note items like broken windows, missing shingles, peeling paint, broken guttering, and other property defects that have not been addressed by the owner.

It seems like in the past week, I've heard numerous people talk about deferred maintenance with regard to their home.  Most of the time, people have decided to list their house on the market and realize just how many maintenance projects they have avoided or postponed over the years due to budget limitations, time constraints or lack of skills to fix the issues.

This can have a massive effect upon your selling situation and your personal finances.

Maybe you remember when you looked for your home to purchase and how stressful that was for you. You had paperwork you had to complete, financing to arrange, likely a down payment to make and probably closing costs you had to have ready.  Imagine you toured a house that you really liked, but had some issues such as:

Broken windows

Bad carpet

Missing shingles

Or a leaky faucet

When was the last time your chimney was cleaned?

Would you be quite as interested in purchasing this home? Maybe not...

Often times, a potential buyer will ask in their offer or contract for you to repair items.  Why not save yourself time and money and take care of some of these problems before the situation arises and you are forced to make fast decisions that might end up costing you more!

I'm not taking about doing major renovations to your home.  

Think of it this way:

Do you have tasks around your house that you really dislike doing and put them off til the last moment?  Personally, I do not like taking the trash out to the curb on trash day.  Not sure why...but I put it off until I can hear them coming down the street.  Ridiculous, I know, but I do it nearly every week.

And what happens?  I have to rush around the house to see what I still need to throw away, I have to run outside and hope I beat the truck.  And if I don't?  I end up with a trash can full of stinky trash for another week and if I produce a lot of trash over the next week, it might not all fit into my container and then the City will charge me extra for too much trash.

So this week, take a tour of your own home and write down anything you have procrastinated fixing up. Not so much cosmetic problems like paint colors, but broken things that might effect the sale of the house someday.   Prioritize it by cost to fix, importance to buyers or what benefits you living in the home yourself right now.  You might be surprised at what you will actually get resolved!

Here at our house, 

~I listed the sliding door lock because I currently have a wood board securing it when it's closed.  This is a safety issue for us and a possible home buyer would be mortified!

~Our microwave has a broken handle.  Actually, we purchased our home and the day we moved in, I opened the microwave to heat something and the handle came off in my hand.  It had been glued on to give the appearance that everything was fine.  Sadly, we have never totally fixed it over the past 4 years.  With this list item, we just need to replace the microwave.

~Our carpet on the main level of our house has some pet stains and normal wear and tear.  It's my goal to replace it this year with some sort of hardwood flooring.

~Our house has a hot tub.  We didn't set out to buy a house that had a hot tub; we considered it an added bonus.  That is, until we had to maintain it.  We used it frequently our first year here, but then used it less and less and last year, didn't maintain it at all.  Not we're not sure what to do, so we'll need to call in an expert this spring.

Here are some articles I've found online about deferred maintenance:

This article talks about plaster and windowsills.

This one mentions driveways.

And this one has an excellent list of things you might need to clean.  Gutters, air-conditioner unit, fridge coils and dryer vents.  

Maybe a checklist would help~

And don't forget to take a look at my pinterest board for additional information.  Feel free to pin anything that might help you!

Heather Hasler Homes for Sale on Pinterest

Let me know if you have questions or would like me to tour your home and help you make a maintenance list.  I can also refer you to handy people you can pay to do some work so you don't have to!

Now if you'll excuse me...I hear my trash truck coming...gotta go!!  lol

Heather Hasler Homes for Sale

Realty Executives~Hedges Real Estate, Inc.

785-207-0142

haslerheather@gmail.com