Selling your home can be challenging. The market is always changing, new rules come out that must be followed, and finding the right buyer can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. To make the process easier, follow these four steps to sell your home quickly.
1 Prepare to Sell
To sell your home quickly, you must start before the property is made available for sale. You want to look at a home through the eyes of a potential buyer and determine what needs to be cleaned, painted, repaired and tossed out.
The improvements you perform should make the property show well, reflect the trends in the community and not break the budget to the point where you won’t see a return.
Cosmetic improvements such as, painting, wallpaper, carpet and landscaping help a home show better and often see good returns. Mechanical repairs that ensure all systems are in good working order are required to get a top price and meet most inspection requirements.
2 Hire a Realtor
Realtors are trained to sell your home quickly and correctly. They have access to technology that can not only make the selling transaction go smoother – but can also give your house maximum exposure in the marketplace.
Not all Realtors are the same. Some work only with sellers, some only with buyers. Some work independently, some as part of a larger real estate team. You should take some time and talk with a few Realtors before you decide on which one to hire.
There will be a number of questions you will want to ask:
What type of representation do you provide? (Buyer vs Seller)
What experience do you have in my immediate area?
How long are homes in this neighborhood typically on the market?
How would you price my home?
How will you market my home?
What is your fee?
Get a good feel for how each agent will work with you. Pick the one that you feel most comfortable with…because you will be most likely working together for a couple of months…
3 Pricing Your Home
You cannot simply price your home at what you want or need. No one (or home) is bigger than the market, and the market will dictate what you will be able to sell your home for…
Your Realtor will be able to accurately assess a good price using a number of tools available. The most common and reliable being a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).
A comparative market analysis should include sales prices for similar nearby homes that sold in the last few months. Many Realtors include prices for homes currently on the market that will be your competition, as well as homes taken off the market because they didn’t sell. Other data Realtors can use to suggest a price range include how many days homes were on the market at various price points and the average difference between the list prices and sale prices on homes that have sold.
After reviewing the data, you can determine the appropriate pricing strategy for your home (i.e. aggressive for a quick sale, higher with more incentives, etc…)
4 Marketing Your Home
There are several tried and true methods for getting your home out there to the masses. Some homes may require a more specific or rifle approach to find the unique buyer that will want to buy.
Whatever your situation calls for, your Realtor will be able to come up with a game plan to best promote and sell your home quickly. Some of the methods Realtors use today are:
- Signage
- Advertising in niche magazines and other publications
- Professional photography
- Local MLS listing
- Neighborhood flyers and postcards
- Open Houses
- Video Tours
- Individual Property website
- Syndicate sites (Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com)
- Social Media
Follow these four steps to sell your home quickly! Need to sell your home in Maryland? Contact me today…