By Tersia de Beer | Property practitioner in Kroonstad, Africa Estate
Spend your money where the buyer looks, not where you would like to. Sellers often ask me whether to renovate first. The answer depends on what a Kroonstad buyer really values. Here is what I see.
What Kroonstad buyers notice
- Water: a borehole, a tank or a pump. In a town that knows water interruptions, it is a selling point.
- Power: an inverter or solar panels, with the system size and installer in writing.
- Security: a gate that works, a fence with its certificate, an alarm.
- A roof that does not leak. Nothing scares a buyer off as fast as a stain on the ceiling.
What almost always helps
A coat of paint, a clean stoep, a neat garden, taps that do not drip, lights that work. It costs little and wins the first five seconds of the viewing.
What you might leave
A completely new kitchen or bathroom just before you sell seldom recovers its full cost. The buyer often wants to make his own choice. Fix what is broken rather than replace what is merely old.
Proof counts
Keep the invoices, certificates and guarantees for every improvement. A buyer pays more for an inverter when he knows who installed it and when.
Solar and water first
If you can do only one thing, choose solar power or a water tank. In Kroonstad that is what a buyer remembers after the viewing: the house that keeps working when the town's power or water is off. A new kitchen is lovely, but solar power and a tank solve a problem every Kroonstad resident knows. Mention it in the advert's first sentence, with the system size, so the right buyers come to look.
I can walk through your home with you and tell you what Kroonstad buyers will notice. Start with a free written valuation, or read my 52 tips.
Tags:kroonstad · selling-a-house · improvements · free-state
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