So, you’ve decided that now is the time to sell—where exactly do you start? First of all, you need to know what your ultimate goal is as a seller. Are you considering downsizing or renting, moving to another state, or upgrading to a larger home? Identifying your main ‘why’ as a seller will help everything else fall into place throughout the process.
Along those same lines, you should understand your current equity position. Your equity position is what your home would sell for in the current market, netted out—including what’s left on your mortgage.
“That detailed preparation is how we’re able to draw the most attention to your home.”
Second, you need to get a pre-inspection. Many sellers don’t see the point in doing this since the buyer will order their own inspections, but consider this: If you don’t already know all of the existing deficiencies in your home with 100% certainty, how are you going to be prepared to negotiate repairs? For example, you could order a termite pre-inspection and receive an unfavorable report; it’s better to find out about that problem now and address it before the buyer can use it as leverage.
Lastly, you need to get your home ready by doing a critical walk-through. Oftentimes, if you put yourself in a buyer’s mindset, you’ll be able to identify a few slight upgrades you can do to your home so that it shows exceptionally well. Of course, the better the home shows, the higher the price you’ll get for it. Some sellers will pour tons of money into large-scale renovations, but this isn’t wise; there are only a select few home improvement projects that will give you a worthwhile return on investments.
Before we send the photographers out to the property for its close-up, we conduct our own walk-through. We may suggest that certain items be removed from a room or reposition furnishings. That kind of detailed preparation is how we’re able to draw the most attention to your home. Buyers will look at all of your home’s listings photos first, and only if they’re wowed by the photos will they even think about coming to your door.
If you have further questions on any of these selling tips, we’d be happy to send you our four-phase seller’s guide, which goes into much greater detail on this topic. Just give us a call or send an email our way. We’re always here to help you make the right move!
