Selling your home is often a major undertaking. There are a lot of steps involved in the process, from choosing the right real estate agent to ensuring that you have staged your home as well as possible to maximize your selling price. Are you preparing to sell your home? These home-selling secrets can help set you up for success.
Secret #1: Clean out your closets.
This is one of the key secrets to making your home as appealing as possible to potential buyers. Many buyers, when they move into a new house, are looking for space. They want to know that all their possessions will fit and that they can maximize the available space as much as possible.
If you have your closets crammed full of things, whether your clothes are straining at the seams of the closet or your game closet is overflowing, your home will not look like it has adequate space. On the other hand, if you reduce the items in your closet, you may find that it looks as though your closets have considerably more space, which can make them more appealing to potential buyers.
Secret #2: Little things matter when buyers first arrive at the property.
From the moment people arrive at your curb, they're going to start forming their opinions about your property. Curb appeal isn't just a stereotype! Freshening up the outside of your home with a good coat of paint, keeping the landscaping fixed up and the lawn mowed, and even adding some flowers can all go a long way toward creating a fantastic first impression and encouraging potential buyers to take a closer look at the property and all it has to offer.
Buyers have often already made a decision about a property before they ever set foot through the front door. Even if they try to withhold judgment, they may find that the appearance of the outside has a huge impact on what they want to buy and why. By improving your overall curb appeal, you can often entice buyers to have a better opinion of your property from the beginning.
Secret #3: Setting the right price for your property is crucial.
When you set the asking price for your property, you may already know that you're willing to decrease that price by a certain amount in order to make the sale, or that you're willing to take certain steps, like making needed repairs to the property or paying closing costs, in order to make the property or the purchase more enticing to potential buyers.
Talk to your real estate agent about how to best price your home. At Emily Lafrinere Real Estate, we take a look at a variety of factors when determining how to price your home for maximum value, including:
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Median sale price of similar homes in the area
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The market in your current area
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Any problems with your home
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Any amenities that you may have added to your home which may increase its value.
If you set the price for your property too high, it could prevent interested buyers from even coming to check it out. On the other hand, if you set the price too low, buyers may worry that there's something wrong with the property, or you may not end up getting the full value you deserve out of the property.
Secret #4: Working with a real estate agent has a lot of advantages for your home sale.
A lot of people think they can reasonably sell their homes on their own. You can certainly put a house up for sale by owner, and you may even make a reasonable profit on the property. Selling your home through a real estate agent, however, can offer a number of potential advantages.
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It helps reduce your stress. You have enough on your plate as you deal with your move. A real estate agent can help ensure that everything with the property goes as smoothly as possible.
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A real estate agent can give you a better idea of what your property is really worth, including a comparison of what other homes in the area may have sold for.
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Working with a real estate agent can help you maximize the value of your property, including providing you with more information about the specific things you may need to do in order to properly stage and set up your home.
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A real estate agent can help better spread the word about your property, including listing it in the right locations to ensure maximum visibility.
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A real estate agent can connect you to a variety of other people who offer the services you may need most as you prepare your home for sale, including attorneys, repairmen, appraisers, and more.
All too often, people try to forego working with a real estate agent, only to discover that it backfires on them. By working with an experienced real estate agent like Erin Lafrinere Realty, you'll often find that you're in a better position to get the full value you deserve out of your home.
Secret #5: Not all upgrades to your home will ultimately add value.
There are some upgrades and repairs you can make to your home that will quickly add value or make your home more appealing to people who are interested in buying. For example, these things may help add value:
- Upgrading outdated appliances
- Adding an outdoor living space, or upgrading the existing space
- Taking care of the "finishes" throughout your home, like drawer pulls or faucets
- Converting unfinished space into usable bedrooms or bonus rooms
- Taking care of minor upgrades to the kitchen or bathroom
On the other hand, other upgrades may not add the same amount of value to the home. For example, upgrading the kitchen when you've already remodeled it in the last few years may not add much value to your home. You may also want to do your research before making major renovations to the property. For example, in some areas, adding a bonus room or finishing a basement could add considerable value to the home. In other areas, however, you may discover that adding those upgrades won't benefit you as much as you might have hoped, particularly when compared to other homes and home prices in the area.
Secret #6: You can't get away with hiding major problems with the property.
If you're eager to sell your property, you may want to try to hide major problems that you know could deter someone from buying the property. However, New Jersey sellers must disclose any known problems with the property. If you fail to disclose major problems with the property, you may face legal ramifications later.
That doesn't mean, however, that you automatically have to reduce the price of your home because of defects or structural problems. Consider conducting a pre-listing home inspection before you even put your home on the market. If you have the budget for repairs, you can take care of them before your buyers take their first walk through the property.
Secret #7: Listing photos can make a huge difference in your property viewings.
Many of today's buyers don't necessarily have time to walk through every property they're interested in. Instead, they may conduct many of their initial viewings virtually. Some people looking for Morristown properties or Mendham homes may have busy schedules that don't provide them with the time they need to visit properties during the work day, when showings most often take place. Others may even be moving to the area from across the country.
You want buyers to be able to get a good feel for what the house really looks like and whether it will fit their needs from the listing. Stage the home, then make sure a professional photographer takes great photos of every room in the house. Point out your home's best attributes and the things that are most likely to appeal to potential buyers, and make sure they're included in the listing. Many modern listings also include video tours that allow potential buyers to walk through the property in detail before they visit it in person.
Secret #8: It's important to accommodate buyers when you can.
You don't necessarily have to bend over backwards to accommodate potential buyers, but you may want to make things as easy for them as possible. That may, for example, mean that you allow them to come view the house even if it's on a day when you would rather not bother, tidying up the property, or even offering buyers some of the things they ask for when they put in an offer, like taking care of closing costs or paying to take care of some simple repairs before they buy the house.
Are you ready to sell your home?
If you're getting ready to put your home on the market, the Emily Lafrinere Team can help. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help get your house ready to sell and help you maximize your visibility.