Selling a home is not the easiest or least stressful thing in the world to undertake. It typically involves more than a little upheaval and inconvenience and there are a lot of things to keep in mind as you go along. Having a plan – and understanding what is most important – can help simplify and de-stress the process though. With all of this in mind here is a look at some of the most important considerations to be kept in mind.
Finding the Right Help
It is not a must that you hire a real estate agent to help you sell your home. However, selling your home is a process that is more complicated than you might imagine, so unless you are prepared to do a LOT of work, and risk making a lot of mistakes, working with a real estate agent is usually the best course of action.
As you would with any other business decision take your time when making a choice between real estate agents. Ask friends and family if they can recommend anyone, or spend some time online going through reviews and testimonials. And do interview at least two to three real estate agents in person before hiring them, as you are likely to be spending lots of time with them and it’s very important that you get along!
Getting Your Property Ready
Whether you are still residing in your home for sale or you will be selling an empty home the place needs to look its very best before the first would-be buyers arrive. This calls for more than just cleaning and decluttering though.
Today’s home buyer is a rather different creature than home buyers of old. Many of them have spent more than a little time watching shows on HGTV and they expect to see homes that look like the ones they see there. It’s for this reason – and others – that home staging has become very popular over the last few years.
Property Styling is a set of processes that depersonalizes a home and then – to various different extents – redesigns various elements so that it will appeal to as many prospective buyers as possible. It’s a marketing tactic that has been proven to both shorten the time a home is on the market and increase its ‘perceived value’, something that can lead to up to 18-20% more in terms of the selling price.
If you are not sure if your home will benefit from home staging the best way to find out is to ask. Discuss the option with your real estate agent and then, if they think it’s a good idea (which many do) arrange an interview meeting with a Property Stylist to discuss the specifics of what they might be able to do for you.
Pricing Your Home to Sell
Getting your initial asking price ‘right’ is a big part of preparing to sell any home. Determining what that is can be a complicated process. It is important to look at comparable sales – properties like yours that have been sold recently (your real estate agent will be able to help you find those figures) but those are not the only things that should be considered when setting an asking price.
No two homes are exactly alike, even if they are basically the same size and are in the same neighbourhood. You may have made upgrades to your home that your neighbours did not (or vice versa) that will affect its value. And as we mentioned, the perceived value of your home can be enhanced by careful staging. While perceived value does not always translate into the monetary value it may mean that you can ask a little more and find buyers willing to pay that higher price.
One of your best resources when it comes to setting an asking price is your real estate agent. They work within your market all the time, deal with buyers all the time and usually have the best insights into what the market is capable of bearing in terms of asking price.
These are just a few of the considerations that need to be kept in mind as you go through the home selling process. And while it may seem challenging, with the right help = and a little patience – it’s likely to be a lot less difficult than you might imagine.
