5 Steps To Make Your House Ready To Sell
Prepare your house for the market
The time it takes to sell a house can range anywhere from one week to over one year, depending on the market and the individual property. However, there are certain things that can be done help make your home sell faster, and for more. With these 5 simple steps you can get a leg up on the competition, attract a larger prospective buyer pool, and help ensure that your home-selling process is smooth and quick.
Assess The Local Housing Market
Contact a Listing Agent
Assess Condition of The Home
Stage The Home
Hire a Professional Photographer
Assess The Local Housing Market
Contact a Listing Agent
Assess Condition of The Home
Stage The Home
Hire a Professional Photographer
1.) Assess The Local Market
The following activities should be undertaken a couple of weeks before listing your home for sale.
Check local listings
The first thing to do is to determine a probable sales price of your house. You can quickly get an idea about prices around your neighborhood by browsing through Trulia or Zillow. This information will give an estimate, and should be used only as a guide. A Realtor professional can provide a much more in-depth analysis.
Picking the right time to sell
Depending on your market, the best time of year to sell can vary significantly. Talk to a Realtor professional in your market to learn more.
2.) Contact A Real Estate Agent
As we mentioned before, getting a reputable Realtor to handle selling your home is highly encouraged. Start by taking Realtor recommendations from family and friends in addition to checking local listing sites.
Initially, from the sources above, pick a few candidates that you feel are ideal. Make sure to interview the pool of selected Realtors and gauge their marketing expertise, sales experience, and links to potential buyers.
Agent feedback
After you have interviewed a few Realtors and found the perfect match for you, it is important to sit down with your listing agent and come up with a plan to get your house ready to sell. The agent you choose should provide valuable information on how to make your home appeal to the largest potential audience.
3.) Assess Condition of the Home
The next big step involves polishing every aspect of your home before you list.
Repairing
Before listing your home for sale, it is important to put your best foot forward, and make sure it is in tip top shape. Compare this to purchasing a car. Before a dealership puts a car on their lot, they typically dress it up, change the tires, pull out the dents, and deep clean it.
Your home is no different. In our experience, most buyers prefer a home that needs very little work. They want to buy a home, not multiple little projects. So that leaky faucet, and toilet that continually runs, fix those before listing and you are likely to sell your home for more, and faster.
Painting
Repainting your home can be an important tool in managing a successful sale. In general it is best to aim for neutral colors that appeal to the broadest audience. You want to market your home to as many people as possible, not just people that like purple walls, for example. If your whole home is painted purple, you will probably eventually find a buyer that loves purple, but it could take a very long time, and the sales price could suffer.
This is not a hard and fast rule. An appropriate color can depend on the surrounding, the type of home, the architecture, or many other factors. If you are struggling with this decision, ask your trusted real estate professional.
De-cluttering
It is a proven statistic, that neat and tidy spaces sell quickly and for more money. It is important that a buyer can envision themselves living in your home before they are likely to write an offer. To achieve that end, de-personalizing and tidying up before you list is essential.
Pro-tip: In your closets, get as many items on the shelves, or off the floor as possible. Floor space in a closet makes it look bigger.
Deep Cleaning
You probably know the old adage “you only get one chance to make a first impression.” A first impression can make or break your opportunity to sell your home.
Therefore, it is a best practice to give your house a deep clean before listing, and maintain a clean and tidy home through the various stages of the selling process. Even an appraisal can be affected by a dirty or smelly house, so put your best foot forward.
Exterior Design
Your home’s curb appeal will be the first thing a potential buyer sees. Both in person and in the online listing, it is important to make the exterior look its best.
Pay attention to the landscaping outside your house. Garden beds should be tidy and trimmed, the yard should be mowed, exterior light fixtures should be clean and operable.
Pro-tip: Seasonal flowers, or freshly mulched garden beds translate in pictures very well, and go a long way in making your home look its best.
4.) Staging The Home
Making your home appeal to the widest pool of potential buyers can be complicated, and staging can make a big difference. The National Association of Realtors estimates that a well staged home can increase the final sales price of your home between 5 and 7%. On a $250,000 home, that could mean a difference of almost $18,000!
We highly recommend staging, and utilize it frequently. It works!
Pro-tip: Plain white towels photograph well. Fold them in half on the shelf or on the towel bar to make them look more plush.
5.) Hire a Professional Photographer
This is so important. Professional photography is essential. In order to sell your home, your real estate professional has to help buyers fall in love with your home twice. Once online, and once in person. Professional pictures will help buyers fall in love online, and schedule an in-person showing.
If your home has professional pictures that appropriately highlight your space and homes unique character, you will be more likely to schedule a showings, and in-person showings lead to sales contracts.
