Steps To Selling Your Home
Prepare the Home
If your house is squeaky clean, you will be able to sell your home faster and net hundreds, if not thousands of dollars more. Here are some steps to help you ensure that your house looks good both on the outside and the inside so that you can sell it quickly and at the price that you want.
1. Start with the outside. Spruce up the flower beds, power wash the house if needed and trim the bushes. Remember that the front yard is the first impression and will often set the tone of the home showing.
2. Check all lights on the outside and make sure they are working.
3. Air out the house to make sure it smells good. Get rid of odors that linger. Use a cozy-smelling fragrance freshener.
4. Remove all clutter in the entire house. This means all living areas, including the family room, game room, kitchen, garage, bedrooms, bathrooms and closets. Get rid of things that you haven’t used in a while or pack them away. Remove excess furniture. Remove everything from the kitchen countertop except appliances. Remember potential buyers look for space, space and space.
5. Depersonalize and neutralize. Remove large collections of items and paint the hot pink wall a neutral color!
6. Wipe down all windows, blinds and ceiling fans.
7. Dust and clean the baseboards and remove smudges on walls, mirrors and furniture.
8. Clean grease stains on kitchen walls, back splashes, counter tops, kitchen cabinets and appliances.
9. Check all electrical fixtures and outlets to make sure they are working. Replace any burned-out light bulbs.
10. Fix any leaks or squeaks. Use a product such as WD-40 on hinges and check all plumbing.
11. Put away any valuables. Not only do you not want anything to happen to them, but you don’t want to distract a potential buyer from looking closely at the house itself.
12. Keep the house clean, fresh, bright and well maintained!
Find an Ally
Buying or selling a home is one of the most crucial financial transactions of your life. In what can be a confusing and sometimes difficult process, it pays to leave as little to chance as you can. But with the help of a professional Real Estate Agent, you can navigate unknown territory with ease.
Make a list of things you are looking for in your representative and don’t be afraid to ask for them. If you would like your agent to contact you within 24 hours of a house showing to let you know what the potential buyers thought, just ask! If any agent ever refuses one of your requests, keep looking! You are hiring a professional to perform a service.
You should expect to be treated with respect, not like a number. You should feel like the agent’s only client, not like transaction #34. You should expect to have your best interests represented. The whole moving process should be as painless as possible. Your agent’s eye shouldn’t be on your wallet, but on serving you selflessly. Your agent should not think of you as a transaction that will be gone in a few months, but more like a friend and a client for life. You should expect your agent to work as hard for you as he would if he were buying or selling his own house. You should expect the highest skills available. Your calls should be returned promptly, you should be kept up to date, and not feel like you were forgotten by your agent.
If any problems do arise, your agent should go overboard to fix them and document everything diligently so that you are protected. After the transaction, you should expect your agent to be a trusted advisor that you can consult anytime. You should feel like you were represented professionally, and that you came out the better for it.
Price the House
The single most important thing to consider when selling a house is the price tag. An overpriced home minimizes offers, lowers agent response, limits qualified buyers, lowers showings, limits financing and nets less for the seller. The market is so competitive that even over-pricing by a few thousand dollars could mean that your house will not sell.
First you will need to obtain a Comparative Market Analysis or CMA. This is a report that shows current listings, pending sales, sold houses, expired listings and withdrawn listings in the surrounding area of your home. Then comparable homes, or comps, are selected based on similar square footage, date of construction, amenities, upgrades and condition. To get a CMA, call or email me for a free, no obligation report.
Second, analyze the data based on current market conditions. Is it a buyers market, sellers market or neutral market? Let’s take a look at the different pricing strategies, each for the same house. To make it simple, let’s assume that the last three comparable sales in your neighborhood were $150,000.
Buyers Market: Your sales price needs to allow for some wiggle room in negotiation, but still be strong enough to entice a buyer to look at your home. To sell in this market, you might need a sales price of $149,900, settling for $145,000 at the negotiating table.
Sellers Market: When there is little inventory and many buyers, you can ask more than the last comparable sale and likely get it. An addition of 10% is a good place to start, so that $150,000 home might sell at $165,000 or more.
Neutral Market: Take a look at both the recent comparable sales and current comparable listings to determine the price. For example, if the last sale closed three months ago, but the median price has edged upwards of 1% per month, pricing at $154,500 would make sense.
Go on with daily life!
With the bustling of every day life, you have enough to contend with! Let your agent do the work for you. Remember to keep your house clean and ready to show while you get back to daily life. Keep your mind focused on the SOLD sign that will be in your front yard soon!
realtorbridget 