Selling a home is a little more involved than simply sticking a For Sale sign in the front yard—especially if you expect to make some money in your home sale AND sell it in a reasonable amount of time. How, exactly, do you make that happen?
Here are our top home-selling tips every prospective should know!
Clutter & dirt are deterring
Imagine: you’re an excited buyer walking into a potential new home… only to discover cluttered countertops, lurking dust bunnies, stuffed-to-the-brims closets, and lingering smells. You’d be a little put off, right? After all, how can you tell if you like a home if you can’t really even see it?
Don’t let your stuff cost you a home sale! Spend some time decluttering, picking up, organizing, and cleaning. You might consider renting a storage facility or hiring a professional cleaning crew.
A little paint goes a long way
Giving your home a fresh coat of paint can give it a major facelift—inside and out. Fresh paint hides stains, discoloring, smudges, dents, and yes, outdated wallpaper. You may also want to repaint rooms with particularly bright or bold colors, as these might be deterring to buyers.
As a general rule, choose light, neutral paint colors, such as off-white, beige, and grey, to appeal to the greatest number of buyers and match most furniture and decor.
Neglected repairs ruin home sales
It’s often recommended that sellers get a home inspection before listing a home. Yes, a buyer will likely request one as well, but wouldn’t you rather know which problems are going to surface before you lose a sale over them?
Taking care of any known or found maintenance problems now allows you the freedom and flexibility to shop around for contractors or even DIY, rather than agreeing to costly price reductions or credits.
Staging sells homes
Want to really wow some buyers? Stage your home! You’d be surprised how far a few simple touches can go towards making a home stand out. Rearranging furniture, adding tasteful decor or accents, or simply removing personalized items can really transform a home.
When staging, the goal is to give your home a lived-in but neat and impersonal look. This best allows buyers to picture their lives in your home.
Buyers shop online
How do buyers find homes these days? Online! And that means your home not only has to be available to online shoppers across a variety of sites and platforms (like Zillow, Trulia, and the local MLS), it’s got to look good, too. That’s where professional photography comes into play. High-quality photos, taken from the right angles and in the right lighting, can really work wonders!
Professional photography is an essential of homeselling. So is extensive online marketing—you want to be able to reach buyers no matter where they’re hunting—Google, Zillow, or even Facebook.
Finding the right price is critical
Probably the single most important thing you can do for your home is to price it correctly. Price it too high, and you’ll be competing with higher-end homes (and yours won’t stack up). You’ll also be appearing in searches of buyers looking for those higher-end homes (who won’t be interested in yours).
Price too high and your home will likely sit on the market for some time until you’re forced to drop the price down. At this point, even if it’s priced correctly, it might still be viewed with suspicion, leaving buyers to wonder why it’s been on the market so long, why the price was dropped… and what’s wrong with it!
Your real estate agent matters. A lot.
So… how do you find that perfect price? How do you get your home seen by buyers across a variety of sites? How do you make your home look amazing? How do you find a good home inspector? How do you even know what to repaint or which improvements to make?
That’s easy! You find a great local agent, sit back, and let them take the reins. A good agent should be able to handle all the details for you, while making recommendations and constantly monitoring the market.
Selling at Port Liberte?
Are you searching home-selling tips because you’re thinking of selling a home in Port Liberte or Bayonne? Century 21 Viewpoint Realty is here to help! Contact us today to learn more about how we’ll price your home, get it looking fantastic, and list it for top dollar.