Selling a home can be a daunting task! However, we figured out a way to sell ours very quickly. I am so excited to share these tips with you!
How can you sell your house quickly? Follow these steps and read about them more in depth below:
- Before you call a realtor, REALLY inspect your house.
- Determine what are some things that you can fix quickly.
- Declutter your home before putting it on the market.
- Choose a realtor that you can connect with immediately.
- Have your realtor walk through your home with you.
- Talk with your realtor about the best time to sell.
- Decide on a price for your home.
- Clean you house top to bottom before showings begin.
- Make sure that you are aware of any smells that your house may have.
- Ask your realtor if he/she can devote a weekend just to your house.
Our son moved away about two years ago taking our grandchildren with him. Immediately, my husband and I started talking about moving to be closer to his family. However, about two months ago we became serious about moving as we couldn’t stand it any longer.
After taking the below steps, we sold our house in only 4 hours. I thought it would be helpful for you to learn what we did so maybe you can sell your house quickly, too!
Tips for Selling Your House
- Before you call a realtor, REALLY inspect your house.
Pretend that you have been hired as a home inspector to find any problems with the home—both inside and out—or a potential home buyer . Walk through every room and try your best to find things wrong with the room. Also, walk around the perimeter of the house. Write down things that need attention.
You may even want to ask a friend or family member to do this for you as well. However, you cannot be offended if the person tells you the truth. You want to know what others see when they walk into your home so you can fix any problems before potential buyers visit your home.
2. Determine what are some things that you can fix quickly.
We had scuff marks on our walls, so we bought some touch-up paint, and my husband walked around the house painting any scuff marks. He saw that our front door needed to be stained again so he did that as well using this stain. He also weeded the flower beds and planted new flowers in our pots to make sure our home had nice curb appeal.
Every home has things that you just tend to ignore when you are busy working, raising a family, and enjoying some free time, but now is the time to put your home under the magnifying glass if you want to sell it quickly.
- Declutter your home before putting it on the market.
This is one of the hardest and yet most important things that you can do. We decided to pair down some of our decor and also get rid of things that we really weren’t using. You want to start where buyers are going to be looking–closets, pantries, kitchen cabinets and drawers. Don’t worry about your chest of drawers and nightstands as buyers know that you will be taking those things with you. Be more concerned about the places that buyers will “inherit” when you leave.
We actually decluttered our attic one weekend before we seriously decided to move. This was not necessarily something that you would have to do before buyers come, but it will help you when you have to move. Just the thought of moving all the stuff we had in the attic gave me anxiety!
- Choose a realtor that you can connect with immediately.
Of course, you should take recommendations from people you trust and research them carefully. Our realtor did a presentation about how she sells houses, and we immediately loved her. She was very professional and seemed like a go-getter. She talked about having someone take professional pictures of our home, designing a flyer for buyers, and making a video of our home for Instagram.
You want someone who wants to sell your home as quickly as you. You want to feel like this is the person’s only project for now.
- Have your realtor walk through your home with you.
He/She will see things that they believe should be fixed or decluttered before showing your house. Listen to your realtor. After all, you are paying for his/her expertise. Our realtor just told us to move a few pieces of furniture to the attic which we already knew that we were going to do before showing. She didn’t tell us to remove family pictures or anything like we have read. She did tell us to have all curtains and blinds open to give as much natural light as possible during the showings.
- Talk with your realtor about the best time to sell.
We looked at our calendars together and using her knowledge, we decided when to put our house on the market. She looked at the market and also traditionally when homes sell best. Again, we were paying for her expertise so we listened to her.
- Decide on a price for your home.
Again, this can be hard. You want to make as much money as possible. However, you should listen to your realtor on your pricing. He/She has the expertise in this area as he/ she can look up what homes have been selling for in this area. Our realtor told us that we didn’t want to price it too high as we would lose some possible clients. However, if we priced it at the middle end of our scale that we might have a pricing bid which was exactly what happened.
- Clean you house top to bottom before showings begin.
First impressions are everything! You want your house to be as spotless as possible and for it to look like a showcase. Many times realtors will tell you to paint or declutter, but all that is for naught if your house is not clean when people come to view it. When people see dirty dishes in the sink or a floor that is not vacuumed, they are going to turn around and leave. If you don’t have the time to clean your home, it would be worth paying someone to come in and clean for you.
- Make sure that you are aware of any smells that your house may have.
We have a 12 year old basset hound who we love dearly. However, he STINKS. He can’t help it and neither can we as he has a growth that is inoperable, and it gives off a smell, but we definitely didn’t want other people smelling that smell. Therefore, before any showing we removed him from the home as well as any signs that he lived there such as his food and water bowls and made sure that he had left no treasures for our guests in our back yard.
- Ask your realtor if he/she can devote a weekend just to your house.
Actually, our relator suggested that we go out of town for the weekend and take the dog with us, and she would do her best to sell our house while we were gone. Therefore, we packed up our dog and went to our son’s for the weekend. We loved this idea as our house would stay clean and they could show at any time without us having to leave.
Our relator kept us updated with a list of showings and by the end of the day, she had two different offers for us. Both were above asking price so we got to pick which family we wanted to buy our home.
Other tips that might help you sell your home
When trying to sell our other homes, the realtors told us to depersonalize our home by removing all family pictures. We were also told that the realtor may want to bake cookies and set them out to provide a smell as well as giving potential buyers a snack. If your kitchen is outdated, it is also recommended that you update it. Of course, you need to be sure that you will get a return on the money you spend.
Multiple Ways to Sell Your Home
You can sell your home in other ways than by hiring a realtor. You can try For Sale By Owner (FSBO). We actually considered that option but wasn’t sure that we had the time or knew everything that we needed to do. If you are really in a crunch, you could see if you qualify for a short sale if you are underwater in your mortgage or you can sell your home by an auction.
I know that not everyone will have the good fortune we had in selling our home so quickly, but I also know that these ten things truly helped us sell our home very quickly! If you have any questions for me, please leave them in the comments. I would love to get to know you better.