Yes, it’s a seller’s market right now and homes are selling quickly. However, if you also want top dollar for your home as well as selling it quickly, then you’ll definitely want to take some time to prepare your home and get it show ready for buyers to tour. The following 6 tips will help you do just that:
- Fix or address any known major potential deal killers. These could be things like issues with the mechanicals, plumbing, electrical, roof, or doors. If there are obvious signs of significant problems with any of these, buyers will be deterred from submitting an offer. Taking care of these items or at the minimum getting professionals to diagnose the issue and provide estimated repair costs would at least provide some transparency to potential buyers.
- Clean your house! Dust it, clean those grout lines, shampoo the carpet, make it shine! Your home doesn’t need to have the latest and greatest updates, but a clean home will sell much faster than a dirty or unmaintained one. Get rid of any funky odors! Nothing will make a buyer leave your house quicker than opening the front door and getting a face full of funk. If you have to replace the carpet, do it!
- Perform quick and inexpensive improvements to make your home more appealing. This could be things like touching up the paint in high traffic areas, power wash patio or porch, change light bulbs to brighter more natural light to make rooms feel brighter. Spend some time and money improving the curb appeal of your home add mulch, pull weeds, cut the grass, and trim bushes.
- De-clutter! Buyers want to be able to see your house, not a bunch of your stuff or storage boxes blocking their view. It is extremely important to present your home as minimal as you can. Buyers need to be able to envision themselves utilizing each room as they tour it. So start packing your things up, rent a storage unit if you need to, and put away all your stuff except for the essentials.
- Hire a real estate agent to help you determine an appropriate listing price. A real estate agent provides an objective 3rd party opinion based on actual sales of similar homes in your neighborhood that have sold recently. Sometimes, sellers are too emotionally attached and may have unreasonable expectations of their home’s value in comparison to others. The goal is to get top dollar, however, a list price that is way too high can sabotage the sale of your home before it even begins. A real estate agent can also provide a sales strategy to help prep your home and list it up for a successful sale.
- Hire a professional photographer to take pictures of your home. Instead of trying to take pictures yourself. Hire a professional photographer who specializes in taking real estate photos so that they can showcase your home to potential buyers. A photographer that specializes in real estate will provide you value with their experience in knowing which angles to shoot for each room, the best lighting, and their professional equipment will give you the best high definition images. Since pictures will be the first time buyers see your home, having great professional pictures highlighting your home will help to draw the attention and interest of buyers to get you showings.
Follow these six steps and you should be able to sell your home for top dollar and quickly! Good luck and thank you for reading!