Don't Do It Yourself

Keith Cobb

The real cost of trying to do it yourself when it comes to real estate is felt when one attempts to sell the property. Although it might seem easy and do-able it will often detract, not add to the property when professional eyes set valuation or a prospective buyer notices the faults.

When it comes to real estate, unless you are a professional, Do Not Do It Yourself! It might look easy, you might think you can manage the work, it may save you a few hundreds of dollars but will cut thousands of dollars off the resale price of your home. The Difference between a Professional Job and a D.I.Y. is obvious to the professional eye, and becomes obvious, even to the layman, over time. A professional paint job looks professional. There is no dripping, no brush stroke, no missed spots. Anyone can slop paint on a wall, which is why it looks like paint slopped on a wall. Of course, this flaw is minor and can easily be rectified by hiring professionals and having the place redone. Adding a room, fixing a roof, tiling a floor, wiring and plumbing demand professionals of the highest quality. When rooms are added, they don't look as if they've been added because professionals know how to blend them into the current structure. The Do it Yourselfer will come up with floors that are uneven, walls that don't exactly match, and ceilings that leak. These flaws detract thousands from the sale price of a home. When windows and doors don't fit precisely; for example,a bit of space between the frame and window or wall, this will result in storm damage; and especially strong winds will often cause the windows to either blow in, or the spaces between the wall and window to become waterfalls. When floor are uneven they often grow more uneven over time as the house settles. Badly done tiling will need to be redone, for often it can't be repaired. The expense of having to pull up each tile, redo the floor, and relay tiles is painfully expensive to say the least. Plumbing may look easy, it isn't. Leaks are a 'given'. The toilet that never stops running, the faucet which drips, the ridiculous way the shower nozzle is positioned are obvious flaws. When it comes to wiring, electricity is dangerous. Never try to wiring anything yourself. It may seem easy to run a wire from the main, it isn't. It is better to spend the money now on hiring a company (you can sue if the job is improperly done), and be able to recoup the cost of these improvements on a sale then to cut thousands from the sale price by a badly done job you did yourself.