Selling your home.  Exciting & scary at the same time:

Selling your home is a very important decision and deserves a well thought out plan and a great real estate agent.  It is more than just putting a sign in the yard.  Get your home ready so you can achieve top dollar and make the move a pleasant one.

Get serious:

Think about how serious you are to sell your home.  This is not a game and it will boil down to the motivation you have whether you will commit to the sale and ultimately move in the end.  This can be a great process with huge rewards and poorly planned it can be a disappointment that leaves you wondering what you could have done differently.  Consider the "what ifs", like what if I do not get what I want for my home am I willing to sell it for less?  Or what if interest rates increase, will I still be able to qualify or buy the type of home I hope for after mine sells?

Be prepared:

Where are you going?  Most people plan to sell only to buy another home in the end.  Have you considered the neighborhoods that you are interested in moving to if your home sells?  Have you driven through the areas that interest you, possibly attended some open houses there and learned what you can about the HOA etc.  Have you considered what is going on with the pricing in that area and have you compared homes that are newer verses the older ones that you could fix up if you have the talent?

Get a qualified professional real estate agent:

Get started by visiting with Frank Nuebel about being your real estate agent and begin to lay out a plan.  He can share with you a marketing plan and a CMA to identify the pricing that makes sense to get the home sold in the timeframes that work for you.  As well, he can help you learn about neighborhoods and areas that interest you should your home sell quickly so that you have a plan for where you are going.

Is it presentable?:

Get your home ready to sell.  Clean out the clutter, paint and touch up obvious things that stick out as a negative to the buyers, move oversized furniture out of smaller rooms to expand the room size visually.  Groom the yard and make it fresh.  It is kinda like throwing a party, your best friends are coming and you want to make a good impression.  Do your best to make it welcoming for your buyers just like you would your guests.

Broken stuff just does not sell:

Repair what's broken.  It can pay off to fix broken items before the buyer asks that you do.  A home that is in great repair with no obvious broken items appears to have been well cared for and normally will bring top dollar when it sells.  Not all money you spend to repair will come back, be smart about the expenditures and ask your real estate agent to help you know what things are important to buyers.

Make it look like a model home:

Are you a decorator?  If not, you may find that staging the home or having a professional assist you with how your home is presented.  It may be simple as putting some things away, organizing the items you have so it looks more organized or getting some other pieces in to accentuate the home in the best way possible.  Many times, staging can increase the sale price of the home, but again visit with your real estate agent about getting a well qualified and professional stager that they recommend.

Not everyone has pets:

Got pets?  We all love our pets but your buyers may not necessarily love them.  Just because we have pets does not mean that the buyers may also have pets or even like pets.  Clean and tidy the home and try to put away dog crates, litter boxes, bowls etc out of the way.  You do not want buyers to walk around or step over the pet items.  Doing this can distract them from looking at the home we have to sell and seeing the upgrades we have to offer.  If the yard has evidence of holes dug in the yard (if you have a digger), or if you have doo doo to pick up, please do before the buyers come to visit.  If your home smells like your pets, you may not even know it.  Ask a friend or your real estate agent to give you an honest assessment of your home from a pet odor and cleanliness standpoint etc.  The homes that sell quickest are usually the clean ones that smell good.  Oh by the way, they also sell for the most money usually as well and that is really important and can make you feel like picking up extra while the house sells, may be even more worth it. 

The Price can be the key:

Pricing matters as much as ever, maybe more.  Establishing a balance when approaching the price you select can end up getting you more money in the end.  Homes that are overpriced, normally sit without showings until they have gotten higher days on market, then when the price has been adjusted to what it should have possibly been in the beginning, it may not compete well  at that time.  Buyers may think that it sat on the market for so long there may be something wrong with it or they may ask themselves why no one else bought it and deter them.  Your agent should be able to assist you with identifying the correct price to begin with and what strategy to get you the most money in the timeframe that suits your personal goals.

Want to know more?:

There are many resources here and we hope you enjoy them.  Click on other articles you will find here to learn more about selling your home or about buying a home.  If there are questions or if you desire professional real estate agent assistance, please call Frank Nuebel at 720-273-3514 for a free consultation.

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