As a realtor, I always try to be fiscally responsible for my clients when it comes to any repairs and/or updates that their home may require to maximize its value. Sellers can spend thousands of dollars getting their homes ready for the market, and they need to decide if their spend is WORTH the return on investment.
Some things, like painting an entire home in three days or less, are best left to professionals who have the materials, crew, and resources to get a home pulled together quickly. However, other things are SUPER simple and can be handled WITHOUT professional assistance. With a little Do-It-Yourself knowledge and elbow grease, a deferred maintenance item, like a torn window screen, is a super easy (and cheap) fix, that a homeowner can can do themselves in under an hour (travel time to a home maintenance store isn't counted with this fix!).
Here's a video I created to show how I helped a recent client get torn window screens repaired, to address a home inspection report that cited the screens as violations, per the neighborhood's architectural guidelines.
VIDEO OVERVIEW:
WHY REPAIR A TORN WINDOW SCREEN? Many homeowners actually store all of their screens in their basements for professional photos. However, my clients actually opened and closed their windows depending on the weather and didn't move their screens to their basement. And, unfortunately, neither they (nor I) noticed there were a few minor tears in some screens before we put their house on the market. It wasn't until the home had gone under contract that this matter was noted. The neighborhood's HOA property manager cited the tears on his inspection report. The buyers, of course, wanted the violation to be addressed by my client, the seller.
For homeowners who live in a community with an HOA, the property management company will typically conduct an inspection within 14 days of HOA documents getting ordered. And, in the case that items pop up on the HOA property management inspection report, there is LESS opportunity for the seller to negotiate NOT addressing "violations" - because the new buyer "inherits" them and will continue to receive violation letters after the sale is over unless the violations are addressed by the current seller.
Now, when buyers ask for things to be fixed after a REGULAR home inspection, sellers don't HAVE to do them all. There is an art to this negotiation. Some things might be very expensive and it might be better to say NO, or to offer some amount of money as compensation (also known as a "credit" to the buyer at the settlement table). But, some things are super simple and super cheap and you can easily say YES! (Which makes the NO answers easier to swallow for the buyer too!)
MATERIALS TO USE AND STEPS TO FOLLOW FOR THE REPAIRS:
All the items can be picked up from Lowes or Home Depot or you can buy it online from Amazon! Fixing a tear in your window screen is sooo easy.
First, remove the screen from the window. You'll find two little tabs that you pull to release the frame from the window and bring it inside.
Second, using a screwdriver, or a fork, or a key, start to pry out one of the leading edges from the window screen spline. Once you get it the corner out, you just gently pull it out all the way around the edge of the screen's frame.
Once out, the screen itself will just fall out, since there is nothing holding it in place anymore.
Third, just lay your new window screen over the frame, and using the exiting spline (or new spline if needed), and you spline tool, just roll the spline in and secure the new screen! All that's left is to take a razor blade along the edge and remove the excess. Boom, you're done. Just put the screen back in and you're ready to rock and roll!
So, don't let fixing a tear in your window screen cost you more money than it has to!
For more tips and tricks, be sure to check out my "Tips for Home Owners". You can find them on my YouTube and Facebook pages below. Enjoy!
For more great videos, check out my YouTube page below!
Or, if you're on Facebook, follow my page for the latest and greatest!!!
Comments