Selling Your Home? Make Sure Your Basement is DRY!

Let’s face it—nobody wants to buy a home with a wet basement.  Buyers expect basements to be dry, and if they’re not, much of the retail value of the home is lost.

There is simply no way to hide your wet basement.  Most states require disclosure forms, which ask the seller a variety of questions including if there has ever been any water in the basement.  Also, most buyers hire home inspectors to check for any defects of the property, and they will certainly be able to discover any basement leakage you may be trying to hide from the buyer.

If you willingly admit that your basement is leaky, it is very likely that nobody will want to buy your home.  And if you do find a buyer, their offer will probably be lower than what you’re asking for it since it’s a “fixer-upper.”  In fact, studies have shown that buyers will take off 10% or more of the price of the home because of a wet basement. 

10% may not sound like a lot, but look at it this way: If your home is worth $100,000, that’s $10,000 you’ve lost from not fixing your wet basement in property value alone.  If your home is worth $500,000, that’s a $50,000 loss!  And that doesn’t even take into account all the property damages and other inconveniences that the leak causes while you live there.

Long story short, fixing your wet basement is a lot cheaper than not fixing it.  Even if your basement is unfinished, valuable storage space is gained when you fix the leakage problem, and a buyer will be much more likely to pay what your home is worth.