Getting a house ready to sell can seem like a daunting task, especially when routine home maintenance such as painting, roof issues or general garage organization haven’t been kept up on. Here are eight tips that a home seller must follow when getting a home ready to sell.
1. Create a marketing plan! Work with your agent to come up with a solid marketing plan that takes you from the initial listing day all the way to closing. Will you want flyers created? Will you want a broker open house? Or will you just use the MLS and Internet?
2. What’s available around you? Be aware of the market around you. Each day there may be one, two or several listings that come onto the market in your area. Are you over priced, under priced or priced just right? Keep track of the comparables around your neighborhood.
3. Curb appeal does work. In any market, making your house look appealing from the outside goes a long way toward selling your house quickly. If your yard hasn’t been mowed in several weeks or months you’re adding time on the market and taking dollars out of your pocket. Upgrading the front of your house can be as simple as spending a weekend cleaning the flower beds, mowing the yard, touching up the front porch or front door with a fresh coat of paint. If there’s lots of work to be done, have a yard work party and invite friends or neighbors over to help you.
Our friends at DIY Network have provided the following five minute video on what to do to add curb appeal to your house:
4. Stage your house inside! Home staging is an essential part of selling your house. If your house is cluttered it will increase the chances of it sitting on the market too long. Rent a storage locker and move out unnecessary furniture, take down photos of family members, clean the carpets, add a fresh coat of paint and remove religious symbols. Remember, the goal is to get the potential new owner to envision themselves living in your house so the more personal it remains for you the less visual it will be for someone else. Above all, listen to what your agent suggests to you about staging your home.
5. Repair, repair, repair! If you haven’t kept your home up by taking care of normal maintenance and repairs, you’ll have to do it now. If the roof leaked a few winters ago and you still have an ugly stain on the ceiling your house won’t sell. Make all the necessary repairs now because if your house is inspected and repairs haven’t been taken care of the deal will likely fall through.
6. Make it easy to show. Check with your agent to see if they plan to place an entry device in a secure location outside the home. A key box allows prospective agents to enter your home when you’re not there. Sometimes an agent will call your house requesting to show the place at an odd hour, maybe dinner time, do all you can to accommodate an agent with a client who wants to look at your place.
7. A public open house generally doesn’t sell the house. Today, very few home sales come from open house events. More likely your agent is going to recommend a broker / agent open house event during the week where other prospective agents can come by and preview the house without their client. Potential clients can see photos of your house on the web and come by with an agent at their choosing rather than come by on a weekend day.
8. Price accordingly. Your agent wants to sell your home quickly and has the experience to properly analyze the other homes in the area that have sold or are currently on the market. Called “comparables” it’s an analysis and adjustment of the value of your home compared to other homes in the general area and if done correctly will sell your house quickly. There’s a fine line between selling a house within a few days and waiting for it to sell in six months. If a home hasn’t sold within 55 - 70 days a price drop is most likely in order. A larger drop in price at one time is more likely to get the attention of the buying market versus only dropping it $3000 every month. Make a bold statement if necessary.