Selling your house can be emotionally challenging and time-consuming, especially if you’ve never done it before. From letting numerous strangers into your home poke around and criticize every inch to getting offers that are less than what your home is worth, home selling is not an easy feat.
Without experience coupled with the complexity of the whole process, how can you generate interest in your home while getting the highest reasonable price without losing your mind?
Below are just some tips to know about. Read on to learn more.
1. Partner With An Experienced Realtor
You can sell your house on your own. But, if this is your first time, the whole process can instantly overwhelm you, causing you to make mistakes and, or worse, handing over your home at an unreasonable price.
A reliable realtor has your best interests at heart. While they are indeed expensive— usually charging a 5% – 6% commission from your home’s sales price— they can help sell your house at the best price you can get.
They also help in taking a significant weight off the whole process by nitpicking the serious buyers from the tire kickers. They should have more experience in negotiating home sales and handling any hiccups that may occur along the way.
In short, a realtor can make the whole home selling process a lot easier and smoother. They do the heavy work, thus, worth every penny of their commission.
2. Don’t Skimp On The Listing Photos
Buyers look for homes online. This means that without photos of your home uploaded on real estate listings, you’re limiting the reach of your sale. At the same time, poor-quality photos won’t do you any good.
Buyers see your home for the first time from uploaded photos. It may help dictate whether a buyer will schedule a showing or not. Quality photos of your home can help highlight your home’s best features, making every space look as warm and inviting as possible. This helps set your listing apart and generate extra interest amongst prospective homebuyers.
Ideally, it’s best to hire a professional real estate photographer to snap quality shots of your home. But, if you think you can DIY (do-it-yourself), consider these professional construction photo tips:
- Take photos during the day when there’s plenty of natural light to ensure clear and crisp images.
- Use a wide-angle lens if possible, providing buyers a better look at the entire space and rooms.
- Take before and after photos of your renovation projects to showcase the updates you’ve made.
- Consider adding a 360-degree view or video tour to enhance your listing.
3. Inspect And Fix House Problems
If you think you can get away with hiding problems with your home, think again. Any ugly issues will be uncovered during an inspection.
Survey your home and take care of the minor issues that might deter potential buyers from sending in an offer. These include cosmetic issues and concerns like leaky faucets, loose tiles, carpet blemishes and stains, and faded paints.
Depending on how much money and time you can spend getting your home ready, you should also consider installing new hardware on cabinets, updating fixtures, and giving your walls a fresh coat of paint.
4. Enhance Your Curb Appeal
If you wish to sell your home quickly, then you’ll need to make a powerful first impression on interested homebuyers shopping around for homes. This means improving your home’s exterior and curb space since it’s the first thing that a buyer sees when visiting your home.
You need to freshen up your garden and home’s front and making it fit into the surrounding neighborhood. To do so, you can do landscaping, paint your front door, washing the windows, sweeping away debris from porches, windows, and lawns, and fixing mailboxes or light fixtures.
Know that a tidy exterior not only looks appealing but also shows that you’ve taken good care of the place.
5. Offer A Reasonable Asking Price
If you want to close a deal, you need to list your home at a competitive and reasonable price. Asking for too much means that your house will spend more time unsold on the market. Plus, you might eventually end up selling it for less.
If you’re working with a realtor, then they should be able to research comparable homes in your area to set a realistic price. In addition, a home value estimator should be able to help provide a competitive price for your home. If you need to sell your home fast, then you may consider pricing it a little lower to generate interest and consider sparking a bidding war.
Furthermore, your realtor may help in doing research regarding the price points that buyers look for in your area.
6. Be Accommodating
It’s important to be as very accommodating as possible with viewing requests.
Last-minute showings can be annoying, but nobody can buy your home if they can’t look at it for themselves. If you’re not willing to accommodate potential buyers’ schedules, then your house may be at risk of sitting on the market for a long period.
And yes, you also need to tidy and clean your house before every single visit. Buyers won’t care or know if your home was clean yesterday. It’s a lot of work to keep your home tour-ready around the clock, but you need to stay focused on the prize which is closing in the deal.
7. Make It A Sweet Deal
To make your house listing more appealing, consider offering something that can sweeten the deal. For instance, you can offer to pay half or all of the closing processing costs. You can also offer a transferable home warranty, providing discounted replacement and repair services for home appliances.
Buyers always want a good deal or ensuring that their investments are protected and maximized. So, make them feel that they got one with yours.
Conclusion
Selling a home isn’t easy, especially if your property is in subpar condition. And while you can’t materialize the perfect and ideal buyer out of thin air, you can follow the above tips and do everything in your power to ensure that when a potential buyer does come along, they won’t be able to pass over the opportunity.
