Deferred Maintenance and Taxes

Strategies for Success in listing your home…eventually

We’ve all heard someone say nothing is certain except

Death and Taxes…

Really though it’s

Deferred maintenance and taxes

As February begins, we’re thinking about our taxes the end of football season and the Seahawks going to the Super Bowl. we’re thinking about midwinter break and escaping the grey. We’re thinking about what seeds we’re gonna start in the grow house. Are we gonna have another freeze? What projects we’re gonna work on? What do we have to do? What do we wanna do what we need to do to our house. I often hear the death and taxes banded about, however I think what’s more poignant is deferred maintenance and taxes.

In February when you’re doing your taxes, by and large the tax year for 2025 has happened. It’s just a matter of putting the accumulated documents and numbers into a form and figure out whether you’re getting money back or you have to pay. Likewise, there are tons of projects we can choose to work on at our house whether we do it ourselves or hire others to take care of it. As we start to map out our plans for the rest of the year this is the time of tax deferral and how to spend both of our money and our time. It’s a really good time to make a specific plan on how to beat deferred maintenance. When you walk in a home without deferred maintenance apparent it just feels right. the roof is clean. Siding is in good condition. The gutters and the stormwater drain off Have a good plan the. driveway and the garage floor are clean the walkways and handrails are thoughtfully taken care of The landscape helps to set off the lines around the house and is the right distance from the structure to allow both airflow and sunlight to keep the house, dry and free of rotten or moldy conditions. And then there’s the systems of the house, the heat pump the water heater electrical upgrades as needed the septic system maintenance of the well if you have one, the crawlspace and the attic keep our friendly little critters from getting in when considering the priorities you can use the top down approach Start with the roof

The list for a five-year-old house is a lot different than the list for a 30 year old house…

Kell Killian

Charter Real Estate

206-900-3548