Selling Your Home? Don’t Skimp On These 5 Essential Projects
A little bit of work can go a long way when it’s time to sell your home. Whether it’s your first home sale or you’re a seasoned veteran, there are five key projects that can make or break how successful you are. To learn more about these essential steps, read on!
1. Make Repairs and Improvements
When preparing to sell your house, there are several home repair and improvement projects you should complete to ensure that your property will stand out above the competition. For instance, USInspect recommends making any necessary fixes to your toilets, light switches, and anything that feels unsteady, such as handrails or wiggling stair steps.
Also, address anything that might appear “off” to house hunters, such as water stains and musty odors. Those issues might be nothing serious, but you don’t want them to feel like red flags.
If your budget allows, you may also choose to remodel or update parts of the home. Several remodeling projects with good return on investment include:
● Replacing the garage door.
● Updating the kitchen, such as replacing the countertops and painting the cabinets.
● Painting the interior walls and front door.
2. Select a Seller’s Agent
As you get ready to sell your home, look for a trusted listing agent who can walk you through the entire process of listing, staging, marketing, and selling your home. Before making a decision, however, be sure to obtain referrals from friends and family members and meet with a few potential candidates.
Once you select a real estate agent to represent your home, he or she will help you to decide when to list your property. According to Redfin, listing your home on a Thursday or Friday can be to your advantage, so long as you have everything in order to present the property well. That brings us to your next project:
3. Clean and Stage the Home to Sell
As you get closer to listing your house, cleaning and staging the home are crucial to drawing buyers in and helping them to envision themselves residing there. Additionally, it’s important to depersonalize the home by storing away any family photos, toys, personal collections, or unusual decor.
As part of this essential process, remember to deep clean every room in the house—paying close attention to high-traffic areas like the bathrooms and kitchen. When cleaning the kitchen, Southern Living points out visible food stains, signs of pests, and excess clutter on the countertops could be seen as red flags to buyers, so get those issues well in-hand.
4. Get Professional Real Estate Photos
Once you’ve staged your home, you need to obtain professional real estate photos for the listing—as these photos are usually the first thing potential buyers see when deciding whether to view your home.
Your listing agent will arrange for these photos to be taken, or you can hire your own real estate photographer if you decide to sell your home without an agent. Or, if you have a great camera and good eye, you can take your own photos for the listing.
5. Advertise Your Home Online
Last but not least, your home needs to be advertised. After your real estate agent lists your home to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), he or she will begin to market it to potential buyers—and an open house may be scheduled.
However, your home will gain even more exposure if you share the listing to social media and email it to your friends and family members. This is probably your easiest project, but an important one. A little bit of sharing and tweeting can go a long way toward getting the word out and snagging a buyer.
Don’t Skimp on These Projects
Selling a home is a lengthy process, but let this guide help you through. Address fixes, connect with an agent, clean and stage, get great pics, and then advertise. You’ll have the place sold in no time!
About the Guest Blogger:
Suzie Wilson is an interior designer with more than 20 years experience. What started as a hobby (and often, a favor to friends) turned into a passion for creating soothing spaces in homes of every size and style.