If your home is listed for sale, you most likely want to sell quickly to move on to your next phase in life. However, some people are forced to sell quickly for a few reasons: job relocation or transfer, divorce, foreclosure probability, etc. If you’ve been relocated to another city or state, oftentimes you need the money out of your old house to be able to purchase a new home in your new location. Here are some tips to get you out quickly without your home sitting stale on the market.
1. Price correctly. This is not the time to test the waters and list the house at what you want out of it. Talk to your Realtor for a complete market analysis to determine the best price. You can’t even offer it at market value. It won’t stand out that way as a great deal. It’s best to price just a little bit under your competition to get buyers interested.
2. Make it an online standout. Make sure that your home is in showing condition to get pictures (and lots of them!) taken to post online on Realtor.com as well as the other real estate sites. This way you could also get buyers who are looking to relocate to your neighborhood viewing your home. If you can get a virtual tour, even better.
3. Fix anything that needs fixing. You can’t expect to sell your home and make money if your carpet needs replacing or you have holes in the wall. It’s hard with the recession to be able to consider these fixes necessary, but they truly are. Every dollar you invest in these repairs should earn you more money when you end up selling. You can try to speak to your contractors about putting a little bit of money down when they do the repairs and then paying the rest out of your sale proceeds.
4. Declutter. Nobody likes a messy home, especially a new buyer. Make your home stand out at all times. File papers away. Clean up your laundry and put away your dishes. General messes people tend to forget when they’re busy: removing dirty dishes from the sink, folding and sorting laundry, throwing out the trash, putting your toothbrushes, medicine and hair products underneath the sink in the bathroom. Even a little mess can turn off buyers. Keep it clean! If you’re a procrastinator and need help with a deadline to get moving, talk to your Realtor. Have them give you the day they will make your home available for a broker’s open and plan on it needing to be in tip-top shape by then!
5. Always make it available for showings. It doesn’t matter if you’re watching your neighbor’s dog or you won’t be home in time for the showing to mow the lawn. Make sure that you don’t cancel showings for any reason. You could miss out on your potential buyer with just one cancelled showing. Agree to put a lockbox on your home and it won’t be necessary for you to be there.
View this Chicago Tribune article for a couple more tips. And leave me a comment or visit me online if you have more to share with my readers!
