Do These 11 Things Before Putting Your Home on the Market
1. 1. Research your local housing market
First and foremost, make sure to do your homework on the value of your home. Take a look at comparable sales in your neighborhood to figure out the appropriate listing price for your home. Pay attention to the various comps’ square footage, features and location. Finally, think about how they compare to your home. For example, your neighbor’s home may have sold for $350,000, but if your home is considerably smaller, you’ll most likely need to list your house for less. Of course, I will be able to assist you with finding comps and determining a listing price for your house.
2. Interview ME to list your home
My motto holds true, if you think it's expensive hiring a professional, wait until you hire an amateur. Hire a Realtor who knows what they’re doing and does whatever it takes to get it sold. I encourage you to interview other agents so you see how I go above and beyond the average realtor. How do I go above and beyond? Contact me.
3. Buy more light bulbs
I used to do sales in the lighting business and know it is EXTREMELY important how your home is lit. The kelvins make a difference in seasons and all lighting must be consistent. When showing your house to potential buyers, all light fixtures and lamps will need to be turned on. For this reason, it’s important that all lights in your home have working light bulbs.
4. Give your house a deep clean
First impressions last. Buyers have “interest switches”, and you as the seller want to keep that interest switch turned on. So, don’t let filthy smells, dirty floors or dusty surfaces make a bad impression on a potential buyer. Before listing your home (and throughout the selling process), give your home a deep clean. This means cleaning toilets, wiping down surfaces, mopping floors, cleaning rugs and scrubbing bathrooms. Consider calling in the professionals to do the job right.
5. Declutter the home
Purging and organizing your home will go a long way in appealing to potential buyers. When a home is clutter-free, buyers are able to focus on the actual home instead of on the junk and overflowing closets. Closets need to be staged, too! PURGE! If you haven’t worn it in a year, pitch it!
6. Get a pre-inspection
When selling a house, you should have a pre-inspection. This is the same exact thing as when a buyer performs a home inspection, but this way anything that may be a red flag, fix it before it comes up! Make sure anything that needs to be fixed (think: locks, hardware, leaky faucets, running toilets, cracks in the walls, broken appliances, squeaky doors, etc.) have been taken care of before listing your home with me. Otherwise, buyers may think your home hasn’t been well taken care of, and now the interest switch just flipped off.
7. Paint the walls
FRESH is best! It’s time to re-paint your home. Start by painting over those bright orange and green walls with neutral colors. Stick to whites, light grays, light beiges, and “greige” wall colors. These shades will make your home appear bigger, brighter and more welcoming. Adding a fresh coat of paint to your home will also help cover the wall’s imperfections and convey a blank slate to potential buyers. This will also attract buyers when reading the listing description.
8. STAGE YOUR HOME
This is a BIG one to me!!! According to multiple studies, staging a home really can help it sell faster and for more money. Fortunately, staging your home’s interior is easy and affordable and I do it as a part of my fee…. Tangibly and virtually. Another motto of mine: you eat with your eyes first. This applies to curb appeal. Spruce it up, after all, the outside of the home is the first thing potential buyers will see when they pull up for a showing. So make sure that the grass is cut, the yard is landscaped and the trinkets are gone (ie- gnomes and children’s toys). If your home is looking a bit rundown, you should also consider adding a fresh coat of paint to the exterior walls.
9. Hire a professional photographer
This. Is. Crucial. In order to get showings, which bring offers, you need to grab the online looker by having high quality, professional photos in your online listing. Without HDR (high dynamic range), high resolution images, potential buyers will overlook your home. So before putting it on the market, I will get your home professionally shot and virtually stage (if needed), and this too is a part of my fee.
10. Rent a storage unit
Selling a home successfully will involve some decluttering and purging of your belongings. For this reason, go ahead and rent a temporary storage unit before selling your home. Having a self-storage unit nearby will give you somewhere to temporarily place all of your extra stuff when staging and showing the home. The garage can also act as though, but remember people like to see clean and tidy, so perhaps a storage unit is best.
11. Depersonalize your home
This is NOT to denigrate the seller, but your personal preference may not be the same as the potential buyer, and that will flip their interest switch off. When selling a home, you want to strike the perfect balance between depersonalization and creating a warm, welcoming home. This means putting away the majority of framed photos, bulletin boards and personal items (think: photo albums, magazines, toys, equipment, awards, etc.) throughout the home.