14 Tips to Sell Your Home
Before you actually put your home up for sale, go to some open houses in your neighborhood. I suspect, after just a few visits to homes on the market, you’ll see a range of differences in how houses are prepared for sale. Selling your house is not about you, but getting the prospective home buyer to picture their stuff in your space. How do you do that?
Here are 14 tips to sell your home.
- Price it Right. If the market is softening, then price it a little under the market. If the price is too low, there will be multiple bids higher than your asking price. Who wants to price the house to high and either it sits, or you have to come back around and reduce the price?
- Make their first visit to your home a lasting impression. The lawn should be mowed and edged, dead stuff taken away or raked, plants trimmed. Wash the siding and windows. You are going for curb appeal.
- Upgrade And Modernize Your Home Prior To The Sale. CBS Home says, “Numerous studies have shown that buyers who prefer brand new homes are mostly interested in the new appliances and fixtures throughout the home. If your home is more than a decade or so old, you’ll want to invest some time and money in upgrading your appliances and fixtures before trying to list your home on the market.”
- Freshly paint the front door. This is the welcome mat to your home. And while you are at it, make sure the doorbell and porch light work.
- Make it smell good when they walk in. What do you notice about visiting a spa or resort? When you enter their lobby, you a greeted by a clean, tropical smell that makes you want to linger. Have a friend walk into your home and give it the smell test. There should be no pet or garbage odors. Make your home as inviting as that vacation spa. .
- Declutter every room. “Get rid of the family pictures,” says, Staci Byers, home stager. “Get out of your house!” You want them to imagine their belongings, pictures, art, books in “their” new home.” Get them to thinking it’s their house from the time they walk in the door.
- You’ve de-cluttered the house. Is it clean? Nothing will turn off the buyer more than filth. If they feel unclean walking through your house, you’ve failed to make a sale. Remember “Poltergeist” and the little lady who rid the house of ghosts? She dusted off her hands and said, “This house is clean!”
- Clean out the closets, the medicine cabinet, and the tops of dressers. The buyer doesn’t want to see any of that.
- Make sure the bathroom is clean and all of your grooming gear is gone Nobody wants to see the stuff you use to maintain your body. TMI!
- Paint! Take down the pictures from the walls, spackle the nail holes, and paint. Stick to neutral colors. You may love that purple wall, but it doesn’t work when you are showing your house.
- Decorate tables with flowers. Set the table with napkins. Let them picture themselves dining, enjoying the conversation over candlelight.
- Stage your home for sale or hire a home stager. Your home will be clean, sleek, no distractive décor, and your chances will be great for a quick sale. Homes that have been staged sell quicker, and for a higher price. Since much of the initial shopping for a home is online, photos of a staged house draw more buyers to an open house.
- Stay Away – It might sound a bit harsh, but if you want your home to sell quickly, one of the best things you can do is not be around when an agent shows your home or during any open houses. Buyers tend to feel more at ease looking at a home and commenting on it when the owner isn’t there compared to when the owner is there.
- It can be emotional to sell a house you’ve lived in for ten, twenty or thirty years. That’s why it’s important to disassociate yourself from the home you are selling.
- Say to yourself, “This is not my home anymore; it is a house — a product to be sold much like a box of cereal on the grocery store shelf.
- Picture yourself handing over the keys and envelopes containing appliance warranties to the new owners!
If you have gotten this far and haven’t sold your house or want to cut through and sell your house NOW, then call us. JT Integrity Properties is here to help homeowners out of any kind of distressed situation. As investors, we are in business to make a modest profit on any deal, however we can help homeowners out of just about any situation, no matter what! There are no fees, upfront costs, commissions, or anything else. Just the simple honest truth about your home and how we can help you sell it fast to resolve any situation.
Give us a call today at 260-202-2222 to let us know what YOU need help with!