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Health & Fitness

Oh Look You Finished The Basement!

You know what kills a sale more than anything?  Finished basements!  I don’t understand what some people were thinking when they decided to finish their basement. Finishing your basement is a right of passage.  Every man you talk to say “after we get in this house I am going to finish the basement.”  I get it but, you should probably hire a professional or at least talk to a professional.  Maybe you should at least, look at some designs in a magazine or something. I can’t tell you how many times I walk into a basement and hear my buyers say, “what were they thinking?” 

 Sometimes there all boxed off.  There are 6 different rooms, and there is no flow to the basement.  Other times it’s only partially done, and it looks bad.  Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a living area.  It should be similar to the upstairs.  Go ahead put a bathroom down there.  Box off a room in the corner as a laundry room.  But don’t make it a maze!  Most buyers don’t want to have to rip apart a finished basement when they move in.  So they don’t write an offer at all. 

I was just in a basement that was only partially finished, and the first thing my buyer said was “what are they hiding?”  I don’t know why it is, but for some reason people always fear the worse and assume that the seller is trying to hide something.  Keep in mind that if there is drywall in the basement the inspector can’t examine the exterior walls.  Sure he can look from the outside and possibly find a trouble spot but for the most part its nothing more than an educated guess.

 Now on the flip side to all this negative talk about basements are the rare occasion when a home owner hired a pro or they did it themselves the right way.  Nothing screams buy me more than a beautiful finished basement! But it’s gotta be done right, and it's gotta look good! If you are thinking about finishing your basement before you sell your house, call me!  We need to chat!


 
Chris Taylor 
Keller Williams
586.524.1095 
Chris.taylor@kw.com
Www.christaylor.kwrealty.com

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