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Selling a property may sound like an overwhelming responsibility given its long and tedious process. Deciding to sell your home, listing your property, and making all the necessary preparations can take you months. Having a reliable home selling checklist can make everything a lot easier than you think. If you're planning to sell your home, here's a checklist to get you started on this journey.
Your Home Selling Checklist for 2022
1. Research the Real Estate Market
Information is always key. Before making the next move, it's important to research what is happening in the real estate market both locally and nationally. This will give you more ease of knowing what type of environment you'll soon be navigating in, especially if it's your first time selling your home.
Knowing what similar properties are selling for, what's on the market currently, and how long home sales are taking will be very useful. You're in luck because everything is easily found online, or you can get in touch with a real estate agent, which leads us to the next step.
2. Find a Reputable Real Estate Agent
Selling a home is no small feat, and as they say, it takes a village. Relieve yourself of the headaches of dealing with all the technical stuff. An agent and real estate broker can make the whole process much easier.
As experts, they live and breathe real estate, so they already know the ins and outs of the industry. Agents can help with the tedious technical side of it, such as giving you professional advice, serving as a sort of mediator between you and the potential buyers, assessing your property's market value, all the legal aspects, documentation, and how best to sell your home, among all the other things you’ll need to do.
Having this kind of support will make things more manageable for you and help you maximize your sale price.
3. Plan How You'll Market and Advertise
Things used to be much simpler when getting the word out about your home. Gone are the days when a newspaper ad or a simple flyer was enough to catch a potential homebuyer's attention. Now, buyers are more discerning and digital-savvy, so maximizing all possible channels is important. Not to mention, competition is also very tight these days.
Your chosen real estate professional can help you curate the best plan for your property, such as finding the best listing option (whether it be online or in print), marketing your home on social media, and spreading the word to their own network. This will help you sell your home faster.
4. Assess and Conduct Repairs
Check your property with fresh eyes and pretend you're a prospective buyer doing the inspection objectively. List down potential issues you spot while doing your walkthrough.
Perhaps there are certain aspects that you may not notice daily, like a loose screw, a broken latch, a scratch in the paint, or damage on a tile. You’ll want to fix these issues before you have pictures taken and host your first open house. Make sure your property is in tip-top shape, as this is a reflection of how well you took care of your home.
5. Declutter and Beautify
Aside from doing the standard repairs, your property must be looking its best inside and out. Buying a home is serious business. This means no area of your home is spared from the sights of serious house hunters.
First and foremost, start by minimizing your overall clutter. You have to make sure your home is where buyers would want to live. Keep it well-organized and remove or store away anything that could distract people. Decluttering will also help you make the house look bigger and more spacious.
After decluttering, it's time to beautify. Assess how your furniture and decor are arranged, and consider rearranging the pieces to make the home feel bigger. Less is more when selling your house. It's best to minimize where possible. The less furniture, decor, and items, the better.
Since you know your property best, you also know how to maximize it best by choosing what to put where. Simple touches can help, such as fresh flowers, a pleasant scent, or an eye-catching art piece. The property needs to feel like a potential home to buyers.
Overall, a clean, well-maintained, and attractive environment gives buyers confidence in the property and its condition. Aside from that, it will help make the move-out process much easier once you close the deal.
6. Improve Your Curb Appeal
Remember: First impressions last. Potential home buyers often love to drive by listings and check out the community before committing to an open house or a property visit with you or a real estate agent. Thus, it's essential to ensure the exterior of your home, including your lawn or garden if you have one, won't turn them off.
Hire a landscaper or do some essential trimmings, weeding, and redecorating. Make your entrance as inviting as possible by adding some smaller touches, as well, like vibrant plants, a new welcome mat, or maybe a fresh coat of paint on the front door. Every detail matters, especially if a serious home buyer is assessing you.
Have you finally ticked everything off your home selling checklist? Well done! Now you're officially ready to put your property up for sale and close that deal! The team at the Brendan King Group is eager to help you make the sale happen. Contact us today and let’s talk about working together.
