Owning and maintaining a home is no easy task. In fact, it takes careful planning and diligence to keep your house maintained properly. Much like a car, a home requires regular maintenance if you want it to last.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a home maintenance checklist to follow? Well now you will!

This checklist is separated by monthly, quarterly, and annual tasks. I have even separated the annual tasks by season to help you plan out your work!

Inspect HVAC filter and clean/replace as needed. 

Deep clean your refrigerator. This includes both the inside and outside of your fridge. I’m sure you have emptied all the leftovers, but it always good to take out drawers and clean all the nooks and crannies once a month too. While you’re working on it, go ahead and pull the refrigerator out to vacuum under and behind it, as well as the coils and vents. While you’re at it, you might as well do a similar cleaning to other major appliances like dishwashers, ovens, and microwaves.

Clean your oven hood filter. This can be done using any general degreaser. Just follow the directions on the products package.

Check ALL fire extinguishers. If they are all up to date and fully charged, your work is done. If not, replace or have them refilled as soon as possible.

Clean your garbage disposal. The simplest way to do this is to add vinegar and ice cubes and turn the disposal on for a few seconds. Then, flush it with hot water to rinse everything down the drain. I also like to add a small lemon wedge to give it a citrus smell.

Check in on unused spaces. This means flushing toilets and running sinks in less-used bathrooms or vacuuming empty bedrooms. Basically, do a quick clean and inspection in any space that does not get much use.

Test smoke detectors. If the batteries are still strong and the detector functions properly, you’re all set. If not, make a note of which ones you need to replace and do so as soon as possible.

Do a deep clean. I definitely recommend consistent cleaning for your home, but every quarter it makes sense to step it up and perform a deep clean. This means moving everything out of closets and cubbies, moving furniture, and cleaning behind/under appliances. Think of all the places you may neglect during a normal cleaning and make sure to get them!

Clean your dryer vent. Hopefully you’re already doing this. If not, it’s time to start. You can do this yourself if you’re up to the task, or you can find a pro to do it.

Scan your plumbing. Chances are you’re not a plumber. That’s okay! You can still do a quick scan of the exposed pipes and faucets throughout your home to make sure there are no leaks or moisture.

Spring

Clean gutters. Chances are the winter months dropped a lot of debris onto your roof and into your gutters. Take a couple hours to clean out your gutters.

Check your home’s exterior. Wintertime is brutal on a home’s exterior, so I recommend doing an in-depth check for damage each spring. Here are a few things to look for:

1. Peeling paint or cracked siding.
2. Cracks in masonry or missing mortar from porches and chimneys.
3. Dead limbs in trees.
4. Check for damaged shingles and flashing on your roof.
5. Gaps around windows or doors.

Get an AC tune-up. Spring is the time to give your air conditioner a tune-up. Make sure you do this early, HVAC companies get very busy this time of year!

Replace/repair screens. More than likely you won’t have to do this every spring, but it’s worth looking each year to see if any damage is there.

Summer

Check for insects. I recommend having this monitored by professionals, which would prevent you from having to keep an eye on it. You can get on a monthly plan that guarantees protection from all sorts of common insects. Otherwise, you’ll need to do periodic inspections and take precautions on your own.

Clean/repair decks and patios. Some years you may only need to do a simple cleaning with a power washer. Some years you may need to replace deck boards or paver stones. The important thing is that you check all of your patios and decks each year to prevent major damage.

Deep clean your garage. Nothing says summer like emptying out the garage and giving it a deep clean. I also recommend taking time to organize tools and storage totes too. For best results, move everything out of the garage as you’re cleaning to help identify things you don’t want anymore and to make sure you clean every inch of the space.

Fall

Clean air ducts. Over time your air ducts collect all kinds of dust and dander. I recommend having them cleaned out each fall to keep your air quality high. Doing it early in the fall will help you prevent having to turn on your heat before they are clean.

Clean gutters. Seems like you just cleaned the gutters, right? True, but it’s likely you’ll need to do it at least 1 more time at the end of fall. If you have several mature trees in your yard, you may have to do it 2 or 3 times each fall.

Get a furnace tune-up. Just like the AC tune-up in the spring, only for your furnace. Most HVAC companies offer affordable specials for this so be on the lookout for coupons or specials. A tune-up should help identify any potential problems and also help your furnace to perform at its peak.

Check and repair driveway. Winter is on its way and your driveway will take a beating. That’s why it’s important to fix any damage in your driveway before the cold hits. Be on the lookout for chips and cracks and repair as needed.

Stock up on winter supplies. You don’t want to get caught in a blizzard without a snow shovel or rock salt. That’s why the fall is the best time to buy all of the supplies you’ll need to get through the winter.

Winter

Test interior locks and doors. It’s too cold to be outside in the winter, so I recommend focusing on indoor projects. Spend a little time checking to make sure all of your locks function properly, and replace or repair as needed. Do the same with doors too.

Check caulking. Your tubs and sinks should all have caulk around them to prevent moisture problems, but this caulk won’t last forever. I suggest checking all of your sinks, showers, and tubs each winter to see if any repairs are needed.

Check electrical outlets. You probably don’t want to mess with electricity too much, but it’s worth spending time identifying if any outlets or switches are not working.

Check for ice dams. If you cleaned your gutters throughout the year and your attic space is insulated properly, you should not have to worry about this. However, it’s worth checking periodically to make sure there are no ice dams on your roof.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a great place to start for any homeowner.

This list is provided by JLGHandyman

www.jlghandyman.com

Once your home inspection is completed and depending on the age, condition and how you are selling your home you can expect to receive a list of requested repairs to deal with any issues your home may have. While a good buyer’s agent will counsel their clients that the home they are buying is not a new home and everything won’t be in perfect condition, asking for repairs of safety related issues is advisable. If you as the seller get a large list of requests requesting even simple things be repaired then it may be the case that the buyer’s agent did not counsel their clients properly when it came time to draw of the list of repairs. If you were advertising and selling your home as-is then the home inspection report is mainly for the buyers to know what they are getting when they purchase your home. Anything in need of repair on an as-is home is for the buyers to deal with and your home should be priced accordingly(LINK to as-is article of mine).

Timing and Market Condition Affect Your Ability to Negotiate Home Inspection Repair Requests

Your ability to negotiate will depend on the type of market you are in and how long your home has been on the market. If your home is in a seller’s market where as soon as a home pops up for sale they are under contract in less than a week then you are in a stronger negotiating position than if it were a buyer’s market with too many homes up for sale and not enough buyers. In a buyer’s market you must make the buyer happy in terms of the repairs so they don’t decide to cancel your deal and find something better.

Also depending on how long your home has been on the market will have an effect on your ability to negotiate. If your home has been on the market for a long while, then any buyer that comes through the door and makes an offer is one you want to keep for if you let them go you don’t know when or if another buyer will come along. The longer your home has been on the market, whether for being overpriced or having some other issues, the more likely buyers automatically think something is wrong with your home without really knowing if there is something wrong. This is human nature, the longer something is sitting for sale then buyers think there must be some issues preventing you from selling your home and as a

result fewer buyers will be interested. If the error was of pricing a home too high from the start it still does not matter to buyers and buyers don’t know/care that price is the only reason the home is not sold since to them the home has been sitting on the market for some time without an offer it could be for any reason.

Don’t Always Accept The Home Inspection Repair Request At Face Value

Home Inspectors by the nature of their training and their work are generalists in all areas involved in the home. What that means is home inspectors generally know how components of your home should and should not work. That does not mean everything they say is correct and in fact many home inspectors will state right up front that a certain area in the home appears to be an issue and further evaluation by a licensed contractor or an expert in that area should be done. Therefore if a home inspector tells you that something does not work where you in fact know that item works the easy way to deal with that is to show the buyers the item does work.

A recent example I have seen where I was representing the home sellers involved the home inspector stating the food disposal in the kitchen sink was not working and should be replaced with a new one. The problem was that the sellers had just installed a brand new food disposal 3 months prior to their moving out of the home and it was working fine when they left. Upon closer inspection of the food disposal it turned out a lazy real estate agent or maybe their client opted to use the food disposal as a trash can since there was no trash can in the vacant home and they did not have enough sense to keep the trash in their pocket until they could throw it away. After a few incidents like that the food disposal would obviously not work since it was jammed up with plastic bottle caps, tissue papers, and more. The home repair contractor who came through to look at the repair list on this house knew first to check the disposal for trash inside of it and after cleaning out the trash the disposal worked fine. So just because a home inspector says something does not work does not always mean it to be true and home sellers should always double check. Pointing out to the buyers that the issue noted by the home inspector is not really an issue also helps the buyers understand their home inspector is not perfect.

Call In The Professionals To Look At Home Inspection Repairs

As noted earlier often times a home inspector will make mention of a potential issue and suggest calling in a professional contractor to further look at a problem. Where the home inspector does not suggest getting a second opinion from a professional but instead recommends repair or replacement of something you know works fine you should also call in a professional to get a second opinion. This is true especially for complicated systems like HVAC, electrical systems, major appliances and more. Just because the home inspector says something does not work or has some issues and should be replaced/repaired does not mean that is the only thing you should do.

If something is noted as a problem area you should contact a professional contractor and ask them to look at the area that was noted as an issue and if nothing is wrong have them note nothing is wrong on their invoice. Quite often opinions like these can be provided as part of a tune-up of the system that may be in question. By having a contractor come out and tune-up your HVAC or garage doors for a small fee they will also provide a written opinion as to any issues noted on the inspection that they are able to look at. Especially when you use a reputable contractor the chances the buyers have issue with the contractor’s conclusions are low. This allows you to effectively deal with a repair issues for a lower cost than if you have to replace/repair something that did not need it.

Dealing with Nitpick Repair Request

There will always be those buyers or the agent who allows those buyers to make nitpick repair requests. Items like change the burnt out lightbulb on the first floor bathroom, repair the wrinkled carpet in the living room, or replace the worn trim piece at front door. Yes these types of requests can be quite sillyand frustrating at the same time. But when it comes down to it, how much will these types of repairs cost to do? Probably not much. Rather than doing the repairs you can offer a credit to the buyer in hopes that resolves the issue. If the buyers insist on the repairs then make the repairs and move on towards closing.

Buyers should also beware, ask for too many nitpicky items then don’t be surprised if the sellers tell you to go pound sand and take the home as it is with no repairs. Especially in a hot market, sellers may be more willing to take a gamble and get a more reasonable buyer to deal with. Instead of making repair requests for items that can be handled by you personally or for cheap by a contractor only ask for repairs on major safety related issues and components of the home and everyone will be happy and get what they want.

Work Towards Common Goals During Negotiating Home Inspection Repairs

The end result of this process of selling your home is that you get to sell your home and move onto your next goal and the buyers get to buy the home they want. By realizing that your goals as sellers and buyers are similar in that the sellers want to sell their home and the buyers want to buy the home allows you to put things into perspective. The buyers want a home that is as close to move in ready as possible and don’t want to encounter any major unexpected repair expenses when first moving in. The sellers have the ability to deliver a home the buyers want now and not have to worry about trying to find another buyer who may want additional repairs because their home inspector found things different than the first one. By working together both sides can realize their goals.

Bottom Line

Home inspections are done to check over the condition of the home and have repaired certain things to help the buyers transition into the home. As the seller you should be aware of the condition of your home and know what works and does not work so that you can properly and timely address any request for repairs. By working together towards a common goal both the sellers and the buyers can get what they want with minimal conflict.

Brought to by JLGHandyman

www.jlghandyman.com

The following checklist will help correct some of the items that come up in a home inspection.

Roof’s that are 15 years or older and maybe two or more layers.

Overhead electrical wires that are too close to the ground. They should be 10 feet out of reach at their lowest point of access.

Loose toilet bowls and/or plumbing leaks. In a basement or crawl space check for stains under the bathrooms and kitchen area.

Plumbing cross connections. The drains from a water softener or water heater cannot be inside a sewer opening.

Homeowner wiring repairs that are not safe. This includes wiring that has been added, open junction boxes and wiring that has been improperly spliced. Have the electrical checked panel to ensure the service is adequate for the home. Older 60-amp panels should be upgraded.

A wet basement or crawl space. Insulation that has fallen need to be re-hung.

Bedroom windows that do not open easily or will not stay open. Also window panes that are cloudy or has moisture between the glass.

Look for tempered windows near a tub or shower drain or windows that are so large and are so easily accessible that they are required to be tempered for safely.

An older furnace, air conditioner Or water heater that is near the end of its useful-life expectancy.

Steps either inside or outside where the risers are too small or too tall or are not uniform in height.

Improper and unsafe handrails and guardrails.

Unsafe wood deck support posts, floor joists and fastening systems.

Cracked concrete that could be a trip hazard.

These are just a few of items that I see come up in home inspections. There will be other items but at least you will have a jump start in getting the house ready for a sale.

Brought to you by JLGHandyman

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