10 Super Simple Things You Should Do To Sell Your House

When it comes to selling a house there are many things to consider, and the decision to sell your house is one that should be taken seriously– as time, effort and energy will need to be invested to ensure that your home sells.

The good news is that the entire home selling process can be broken into a checklist that can be easily implemented to ensure that your goals are met. Contrary to what many might believe there are several actions that must be taken in order to ensure you receive optimal results in selling your home.

The misconception in selling a home is that you will be able to just publish your house online, put a sign in the yard, meet a buyer, negotiate (or not), and sell it.

Unfortunately, it won’t be that easy—especially if you want to bring in an offer that is not only at your asking price, but potentially above it. (Yes, this still happens!). In order to position your home ahead of all the others that are placed on the market every day, I’ve developed a simple checklist that will help sell your house quickly at the best price possible.

The 10 Super Simple Things You Should Do To Sell Your Home

1. Decide whether you will pay an agent to sell your house or you just do it by yourself.

Selling a house is a tricky business. When selling on your own, you need the experience and also a solid understanding of facts regarding the real estate industry. The great news is that by involving a realtor, you do not need to know every detail about the buying and selling process.

A licensed realtor will have more experience and education concerning real estate, which will allow you to avoid having to do everything on your home, which will ultimately lead to your house being sold faster at a great price.

2. Price your house appropriately given the current market conditions, it is important that you begin to learn about your market area to determine reasonable values. Are other homes in your area selling quickly or are they sitting on the market for a while?

3. Invest in quick home improvements to get your home in selling condition. When preparing to put your house on the market you’ll want to invest in maintenance of your home. I’ve seen many deals fall through or offers being submitted that were substantially below asking price, due to deficiencies that could have been corrected prior to the house being listed for sale.

With that being said, it’s also important to understand what you can realistically improve in your house to ensure you receive a great offer such as the interior (paint, flooring, décor) exterior (lawn, fencing, garage doors, paint). However, there are some areas that you won’t be able to improve on such as location, style, etc.

The easiest and most impactful things you can do to get your house ready to sell pertain to the exterior, interior, and appliance upgrades.

For Example:

• If your house has carpet, consider hiring a professional company to clean it, a clean carpet can do wonders in making the home appear open and bright.
• Add mulch, cut grass and plant flowers or other shrubbery to enhance the initial impression of the house.
• Use touch up paint in areas on walls that might have scuff marks or other marks that are discolored.
• If you have painted the walls in a more creative color consider re-painting it to a more neutral color.
• Change light bulbs throughout the home, remember that if your home is light and bright it will seem more welcoming to potential buyers. (You want buyers to enter your home and immediately feel connected to it!)

4. Eliminate Bad Smell/Aroma or Odors—I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard buyers say that they didn’t like a home based on how it smells. If you have pets or smoke consider bringing in a professional home odor removal company.

There are several companies in the Houston area that offer affordable prices, and this alone could really boost the appeal of your home to potential buyers!

5. Decide whether you pay a professional to do pre-listing house inspection or not. A pre-listing inspection can be a good opportunity for you to find out about any issues that could potentially show up in the home when a potential buyers performs their own inspection.

By doing this, you will know what areas you might need to repair prior to listing your home for sale.

6. De-clutter your home by selling some of your unnecessary furniture and appliances. Buyers prefer homes that are clean and as clutter-free as possible, I always advise my clients when listing their house for sale to minimize the amount of furniture whenever possible.

Buyers like to see open, bright and clean spaces—oftentimes, if there is a lot of furniture or wall hangings some buyers become suspicious that the seller is hiding something or that the house lacks space.

Remember that when selling your home, your goal is to always position the house in the best condition possible so that buyers have no reservation in regards to making an offer.

7. Get familiar with real estate financing terms, such as mortgage financing (fixed, adjustable, seller financing, assumable loans), pre-qualified, pre-approved, commitment.

Its good to have a basic understanding of these concepts as you will be better equipped to evaluate offers as they come in on your house. However, if you’ve partnered with a licensed realtor then they can also assist with helping you evaluate all offers.

Also, consider learning about the real estate negotiation process and the relevant terms such as contract, offer, deal, contingency, back-up offers, etc. This will help you to become more confident throughout the entire real estate transaction.

8. Decide whether you will offer a home warranty, a warranty is a great way to protect yourself in addition to the new owners of your house. Many warranties will cover issues such as appliances, re-keying of doors, HVAC, and much more.

There are several reputable warranty companies and your agent will be able to provide you with options.

9. This is not necessarily a step in preparing your home to sell, however it is important to begin researching the areas where you are considering a new home, it’s always a better to find a home when you don’t have the pressure of having to move into it immediately.

While having your home on the market for sale you should be using the time to find out about schools, amenities, and determining the “must haves” for your new home. This will make securing your new home much easier as you will already have a solid understanding of what you desire in your new home.

Selling a house is not a simple task, however the checklist is a great start to helping you navigate the process. As you can see, there are several factors that should be considered and implemented to ensure you are able to obtain a solid offer on your home and ultimately close the deal quickly.

Partnering with a knowledgeable real estate expert will drastically increase your success as they will have the experience, education, neighborhood knowledge, and marketing/negotiating skills required to ensure your house is sold.

This will eliminate the need for you to handle all of the previously mentioned tasks on your own, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your upcoming move and/or relocation.

You can choose to sell your home by yourself or partner with a licensed realtor. Both options have advantages and disadvantages. If you have time, energy, and marketing skills, you can sell by yourself. But if you want to sell home fast and to the best buyer, involving a realtor is the best option.

10.  Partner with a real estate expert

Below are some of the benefits of partnering with a licensed Houston realtor.

• Experience and education When selling on your own, you are often at a disadvantage as you need the some experience regarding the real estate industry. Happily, by involving a realtor, won’t need to know every detail about the buying and selling of houses.

A licensed realtor has more experience and education concerning real estate, allowing you to avoid the stress and ultimately lead to your home being sold sooner. 

•  Neighborhood knowledge Professional realtors understand the neighborhood and know how to obtain relevant historical information about the area. They can easily identify similar sales and provide the facts to you. 

• Offer Negotiation One of the main reasons you need to engage a professional realtor is to help you in negotiating offers. You may not know how to sell house fast and it is challenging to negotiate all the offers by yourself. But when you partner with top realtor they are able to handle the negotiations for you, while securing the highest offers.

• Professional photos Professional photos are essential in the digital age. It is impossible to get the right buyers without having high-quality photos. Nowadays, more than 90 percent of home selling is done online. In addition, buyers spend most of their time viewing photos and a few minutes reading house description.

By engaging a licensed realtor, he or she can manage to get the right angles of your house to ensure the photos convey all of the features and benefits buyers get when purchasing your house. 

• Marketing Professional realtors have access to a larger buyer network, this allows them to more effectively market your home to those that are more likely to purchase it.  

• Handling inspections and appraisals Inspections and many visits to your home can take most of your time. Luckily, realtors can handle the calls, emails, and inspections. In addition, a realtor can keep buyers  that are not serious away and be able to convince serious ones. 

• Handling the paperwork Today, home selling involves a lot of paperwork. An agreement can have more than ten pages. This means the document should be handled by experts who understand them properly to avoid errors or omissions. Keep in mind that a simple mistake can lead to a costly court case.

• Handle issues after closing unfortunately, transactions can have issues even after closing the deal smoothly. If you manage the deal by yourself, you might not be able to answer some questions that pop up after the deal.

For instance, taxing agents might need to clarify some things concerning the sale. Fortunately, a call to the realtor can straighten out any confusion. Hence, it is worthy to partner with a licensed realtor.

Bottom-line…

Unless you have time, education, energy, and marketing skills, partnering with an experienced and licensed realtor to sell your house is the best idea. Licensed realtors have experience and skills in regular and digital marketing. Therefore, they can manage to sell the house fast without complications.

If you’re in the market to sell your home schedule a free market evaluation consultation with me today! You can also find out latest events and news by visiting my katy tx realtor Google Business page.