Prepare your home for sale.
Here are few items which will help your home look much more presentable and appealing to potential buyers.
Declutter your home.
Remove all the clutter from your common areas, bedrooms and closets. Clean the grout. Remove all personal photos to get your home ready for professional photos and showings once its listed. Remember that people like to visualize themselves living in your home. If you have personal photos throughout, it may turn off your buyers.
Paint the interior if necessary.
Fresh paint makes a huge difference when you’re selling a home. However, color can make or break a successful sale. The key to painting your home is using natural colors (ie. (cream, beige, white, eggshell) and staying away from bold colors like (pink, blue, purple, green, orange). New paint removes odors and makes your home smell fresh and ready for new owners.
Hire a professional painter if needed. Rates may vary and be sure to receive multiple quotes before the hire the best one. You will need to arrange this before the home is placed for sale.
Landscape And Outside Clean Up.
This is the 1st impression potential buyers will get when they come to view your home. You don’t get a 2nd chance to make a great 1st impression so make sure the outside as pretty as possible. Flowers are always a bonus. Set your irrigation to water a little longer so everything is green and lush.
Hire A Real Estate Professional of Your Choice
This is extremely important. Hiring a knowledgeable full time REALTOR is one of the most important aspects of selling a home. Make sure you interview a few REALTORS before you choose one that you feel is the best fit for the job, ensuring they are pleasant, available, answer their phone when you call and have a solid educational background. Check their reviews on their website to see what past clients have said about them? Do your homework and choose carefully.
Work with your REALTOR to ensure that your home is priced correctly for the type of market you are selling in. Your REALTOR will run a comparables analysis to see what other similar homes have sold for and the timeframe before listing your home. Depending on the market type (buyer’s, seller’s, or balanced market), adjustments may need to be made after the home has been actively listed on the Multiple Listing Service.
Hire a professional photographer.
Having great qualify photos helps your home get the most exposure with showings. It is always a good idea to leave your home during showings, as potential buyers like to picture themselves in your home and they may not be able to if you’re present.
Your REALTOR will likely recommend a professional photographer. This is an important step as the photos will be the 1st thing potential buyers see when they search for homes. It is also important to make sure the photos are as realistic as possible without exaggerating the colors.
List Your Home on The MLS & Hold Open Houses.
By listing your home on the open market through the Multiple Listing Service, your home will show up almost immediately on dozens of websites frequently visited by buyers who are represented or unrepresented by a REALTOR. Your goal is to get your home in front of as many buyers as possible by advertising to through as many channels as possible. An open house allows your home to be prominently shown to potential buyers. As your buyers walk through your home, it’s important for them to feel like it’s their home so remember to de-clutter and de-personalize the home prior to scheduling an open house.
Home Inspections & Pre-Inspections.
Usually, a buyer will conduct a home inspection with a licensed inspector when they enter into contract with the seller. This may reveal minor and major deficiencies in the home, which the buyer will then use as leverage to negotiate a lower price or request repairs to be completed as part of the sale. As a seller, you will ultimately decide what items you will repair, if any. Keep in mind that if you choose not to repair or compensate for any items found in the buyer’s inspection, you run the risk of losing that buyer.
A great way to manage this risk is to perform your own Pre-Inspection of the home. This will give you an advantage as you will already know what the home needs and can disclose it upfront or plan accordingly. You may also provide your Pre-Inspection to potential buyers and in some cases, they will make a purchase decision based on your inspection alone.
As always, discuss this step with your REALTOR for professional advice.
Accept the Best Offer.
You might believe that the highest offer is always the best offer but this is not always true. Seller’s should consider all elements of the offer, such as financing, closing date flexibility, down payment, and the overall strength of the offer, including its likelihood to close.
As your REALTOR, I will take the time to help you evaluate each offer, as well as its pros and cons before deciding which offer you should accept. I will walk you through the entire process to ensure it’s as stress free as possible.
Closing & Celebration Day
By now, you should have moved out and ensured that your home was left as clean as possible for the new homeowners. Closing day is when ownership is transferred from the seller to the buyer. The seller should have moved out by now, unless there was a prior agreement in place for staying in the home post-closing date.
As a seller, you should leave the home clean or hire a cleaning service is often recommended to accomplish this step as it sets a good tone for the new buyers. No one wants to move into a dirty home. I am here to answer any questions you have or walk you through the steps on what occurs when during the selling process.
