Getting Your Home Sold

If you're thinking about putting your home on the market in the next few months, there are a few things that you'll need to do to achieve positive results.  It's important to plan ahead.  Planning and doing the prep work to get your home ready for sale will help make the sale of your home successful.

First of all, decide what your priority is.  Do you have to sell or need to sell your home quickly or by a certain date?  Or, is your goal to sell your home at the best possible price, no matter what?  If you know your ultimate goal, you will make the right decisions along the way and stay on track. 

Setting your goals early on will make it easier to decide which if any home improvement projects to start or complete, as well as deciding how you'll respond to offers, and how strongly you want to negotiate those offers.

Have you checked out what's for sale in your local market?  It's best to know your competition.  Visit open houses in your neighborhood.  You will have the opportunity to see what's available, how they are priced, and the condition of the homes currently for sale.  You can see for yourself if they are dated and in need of repairs or if they have already been updated and staged.

Study the market.  See what's available on your local MLS website.  Ours is har.com.  Or check out some of the nationally popular real estate listing websites to see what homes in your area are selling for.  Narrow your search down to look at homes that are similar to yours in size, year built, number of bedrooms and bathrooms.  Note what features they have, how they're described by the listing agent, the price, and how long they've been on the market.  See if you can determine why the home hasn't sold if it's been on the market a considerable number of days.

There are far fewer buyers in today's market than in the past - mainly due to funding regulations.  However, the few buyers we do have are a lot more savy than in the past.  They have a large number of homes to choose from and are better educated about what homes should be selling for.  They recognize a great value when they see one and most are not willing to purchase a home that is in need of repairs, new paint, carpet, appliances, or bathroom or kitchen remodeling unless the list price is significantly lower than the others in the neighborhood.

Once you know what homes in the neighborhood are selling for and the condition of those homes, figure out your timeline and stick to it. Have a specific date to put your home on the market. Decide what improvements will be necessary to help sell the home faster and a date to have it completed, pack and declutter the home, and take care of any exterior maintenance.  Spruce up the yard, mulch the flowerbeds, and make your entry attractive and inviting.  Curb appeal goes a long, long way.  I can't tell you the number of times I've had buyers that didn't want to go into a home because the outside looked neglected.

Selling in today's market is difficult.  But, by doing your homework ahead of time, knowing how to price it, and having your home ready to show and sell when you list it, will help the process go as smoothly as possible.