Selling your house: fixing the snag list

Getting the snag list done: Selling your house quickly

You’ve decided to sell the house and you’ve selected the right estate agent, now it’s time to fix all those little jobs that have needed doing for weeks, months or years – the snag list, in order to ensure you get the best price for your house.

You know what it’s like, after a while living in your house you become selectively blind to the little DIY jobs that need doing; the grout in the bathroom is a paler shade of white, and the carpet is frayed at it’s join in the bedroom, and the brick paved driveway is starting to sag from the ants in-sand activity.

But in order to get the best price for your house you need to address these little jobs right now. It’s time for the snag list.

Get yourself a pen and paper, or your favourite Moleskine notebook. Start out on the road – where your potential buyers will start their journey to purchase. It’s time to get critical.

The H&D wisdom says that you should look to compile a list of everything you think needs fixing at this point – don’t be daunted by the scale of the list and the level of detail. You don’t have to do everything or even anything on the list, but it helps to have the list ready and available in case your house takes longer than you thought to sell – that way you can keep ploughing through until you have accepted the offer.

I would go for five columns – location, job detail, materials needed, cost, and estimated time. If you are anything like me at estimating time, it’s a good idea to double whatever figure you come up with for this final column!

So starting out the front:

DrivewayTake up sagging bricks, fill with sand, and relay bricksKiln dried sand£103 hours
Drivewayapply weedkillerweedkiller and sprayer£1530 mins
Front of houseSand and paint garage doorexterior gloss from Wickes£153 hours
Front of houseput out hanging baskets (see homebase guide)Baskets, hooks, and plants£301 hour

Continue like this going to each room of your house in turn, start at the doorway you are stood in and work around the 4? walls until your gaze is back where you started. Check the ceiling, the coving, and the floor – what needs a fresh coat of paint? Any lightbulbs need replacing? Do you need a rug to cover that red wine stain?

Once your list is complete, you can now choose which tasks to start on based on the time you have available or the money you can spare to give to the DIY gods.

Good luck selling your house, and keep an eye out for other articles in our selling houses series.