After a lot of careful thought and consideration, you have made the important decision to start selling your home...but now what?
Selling a home is such a major endeavor to take on that it can be hard to know where to begin. From setting a price, finding the right real estate agent for you, to preparing your home to be shown to buyers, there are a lot of things to do.
Luckily, selling a home does not have to be intimidating. As long as you stay organized and take important steps from the beginning to avoid major issues later on, selling your home can be smooth sailing and done in a reasonable amount of time.
Use the following checklist to keep track of the essential tasks that go into selling a home.
Make Sure You Can Afford to Sell
Before you can even start the process of selling your home, you have to figure out if you can even afford to sell in the first place. When selling a home, you can expect costs such as your real estate agent’s commission, repairs, closing costs, and more. Take a look at your finances before you start to make sure selling your home fits into your budget.
Hire a Real Estate Agent
A real estate agent will be an essential resource to you as you sell your home. They bring with them a breadth of knowledge of the ins and outs of the real estate business and can help you sell your home as quickly and efficiently as possible. Do some digging to find the real estate agent who has a lot of experience selling in your area and has a solid strategy for selling your home.
Determine Your Home’s Value
One of the first places to start in the selling process is to determine the value of your home. There are a number of factors that go into determining your home’s value: size of the home, various features, location. A comparative market analysis, which compares your home to other similar home sales in your area, can help you determine your home’s value.
Get a Home Inspection
Part of selling your home is making sure it is in the best shape possible before you start having buyers come in to see it and make offers. It is usually a good idea to have an inspector come in to look at your home and give a professional assessment of any issues that need to be addressed before making the sale.
Make Necessary Repairs
It’s very important to make any major repairs to your home before you start to sell. Buyers will be turned off by a home that needs significant repairs; they want to see a home that is ready to move in where they will not have to put out extra money to fix it. The home inspection will help reveal exactly what needs to be done.
Paint the Walls Neutral Colors
When it comes to showing your house to prospective buyers, neutral colors like white, light grey, or beige are the best options to appeal to as many people as possible. You don’t want buyers to be turned off by brightly colored walls or decorative wallpaper.
Clean the House
When buyers come to see your house, you want to make the best impression possible and a dirty house will immediately turn buyers away. This means cleaning everything from top to bottom from the bathrooms and the kitchens to the carpets and the windows.
Declutter Your Home
Going hand-in-hand with deep cleaning, a cluttered and disorganized house will leave buyers running in the other direction. Stacks of books, shoes piled in the corner, and other kinds of messes will be very distracting to buyers who just want to see your house as it is. Even your closets and cabinets should be organized and free of clutter because buyers will look at places like this too.
Depersonalize Each Room
When preparing your home for showings, depersonalizing is just as important as cleaning. The reason buyers come in is because they want to be able to visualize themselves living in the home so personal items like pictures, certificates, and awards must be put out of sight by the time buyers arrive to see the home.
Remove Odors
Homeowners tend to become immune to the smells in their homes but buyers will definitely notice when they come in. Do your best to neutralize odors before you start showing your home. Make sure not to cook anything with strong smells the night before. Try to have a friend or family member come in beforehand to make sure there are no noticeable smells.
Put away Valuables
Anything like valuable jewelry, art, heirlooms, and any other special items should be put safely out of sight when you start opening up your home to prospective buyers. While it helps with the depersonalization factor, it is also a good safety precaution as well.
Create Positive Curb Appeal
Curb appeal is how enticing the outside of your home looks to buyers. Since the home’s exterior is the first thing buyers see when they come to your home for the first time, positive curb appeal is essential to making a good first impression. Cutting the grass, landscaping, planting flowers, and repairing jagged edges in the driveway are all ways to enhance curb appeal.
Hire a Photographer
When buyers are browsing online for potential homes, if the picture of the home is not eye-catching then buyers won’t not even give it a second thought. Consider hiring a professional photographer to take pictures that will show your home in the best light.
Consider Staging
Setting up your home in a way that appeals to the most buyers possible can go a long way in getting people interested in your home. Homes tend to sell faster with proper staging so this is not a step you want to skip. Hiring a professional stager can help you get the most out of it.
Set Up Showings and Open Houses
When you’ve laid out your finances and done all of the prep work with the help of your real estate agent, it is time to start arranging open houses and showings for your home. Coordinate specific times to have as many people as possible come to see your home to maximize the chance of getting an offer.
Ready to Sell in Houston?
If you’ve read this entire article, then you are serious about selling. Contact Keith E. Ford at 832-788-7037 to learn more about selling in Houston!
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