6 Expert-Backed Tips for Selling a House With Old Wiring
Your biggest concern when selling a house with old wiring will come down to whether the home is safe to inhabit and up to code.
Your biggest concern when selling a house with old wiring will come down to whether the home is safe to inhabit. An older home’s electrical system easily can become overtaxed, causing fires and electrocutions. Home electrical problems account for 53,600 fires each year, causing over 500 deaths, 1,400 injuries, and $1.4 billion in property damage. Many of these fires happen in older homes.
“That’s a fire hazard to begin with for the current homeowner,” says Renee Normandy-Shane, a top-selling real estate agent in Port St. Lucie, Florida. “But for the buyer, it’s a train stopper.”
Old electrical wiring can also derail a real estate contract because a lender or homeowners’ insurance company won’t allow a buyer to proceed. If you’re selling a house with old wiring, here’s where to focus your efforts so that buyers light up when they see how well you’ve kept your home running.
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1. Get a pre-listing inspection to check the state of the wiring.
Problems with old wiring can sneak up on you if your lights, appliances, and other gadgets seem to run as they should. That’s why the Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) recommends an electrical system inspection as a preventive safety measure for anyone purchasing a previously owned home and if your home meets these conditions:
- You’ve added new appliances within the past 10 years;
- Your home has undergone a major renovation;
- Your home is 40 years old or older.
A home inspector, a licensed electrician, or an electrical contractor will check that your home’s electrical components meet the National Electrical Code (NEC), the benchmark for safe electrical design, installation, and inspection of electrical equipment of all types. As of 2023, the NEC has been revised 17 times. Your state or municipality may have additional code requirements.
Although a buyer pays for a home inspection, Normandy-Shane says that a pre-listing inspection can identify issues, such as old wiring, giving homeowners a heads-up about costly repairs. Depending on your home’s location and size, a home inspection costs a national average of $343.
“Being proactive brings a lot more confidence into the sale,” she says. “You can also disclose to the buyer that you’ve already had a lot of issues remediated.”
For her clients, Normandy-Shane sends a home inspector to check out any home from the 1980s or earlier prior to listing to avoid electrical panel surprises or learning that a “handy” homeowner overloaded the breakers for modern needs.
