November 26, 2004 08:44 PM
'Tis the Season to Fix Up Your House
Excerpt: If you want to take advantage of next spring's selling season, you should start prepping your house now. If you wait too long, you might not have the time to make necessary repairs — and that could cost you.
WHEN ERIK TAROS, a 44-year-old graphic designer, bought his turn-of-the-century Victorian house in 1992, it was the eyesore of the block. He planned to restore the home to its original beauty over many years.
But in February 2002, his son's charter school announced it would close its doors at the end of the academic year. Suddenly, Taros was forced to speed up his renovation plans so he could sell his Lynn, Mass., home and move to a better school district by late summer.
Over the next five months, he and his wife spent every weekend getting their property ready to sell. They updated electrical wiring and plumbing, and laid new sod outside. They built a new porch. They even moved excess furniture to relatives' homes so the place would look airy. The hard work paid off: the house went on the market in June, and sold in August. Taros said he nearly quadrupled his initial investment in a decade.
Any realtor will tell you that the spring and summer are the best times of the year to sell a home, because that's when buyers are the hungriest. According to the most recent data from the National Association of Realtors, or NAR, roughly 350,000 transactions closed during January and February of this year, compared with 650,000 to 700,000 a month in June, July and August.
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