How to sell your home fast
Today I am talking about How to sell your home fast. Number one; you should declutter your house. That is absolutely, positively number one! Get rid of about three-quarters of the items in your house. Most often we have too many personal items in our home which makes it extremely difficult for a buyer to envision themselves in your home. We have to remember and pull ourselves away from “I’ve done so much work in this house, I’ve had so many memories in this house, my home is worth this.” We have to pull ourselves away from that emotional attachment. We have to get into the mode of I need to show someone the space in my house and everything that my home has to offer and I cannot do that if they are distracted by all the personal things in my house.
No personal photos! I have a lot of buyers who dont understand why Realtors tell sellers to depersonalize (no personal Buyers get distracted and I can’t tell you how many buyers I have when I go into a house and there’s pictures on the wall they stand there, deer in the headlights looking at personal photos from the seller. I have to bring them back in to focus on what we are truly there for. Yeah there vacation looks great, and that wedding is beautiful but if we are taking our minds off of the house we might miss something positive or negative about the home because we are not focusing on the home itself. It becomes more difficult for the buyer to envision themselves in the home too. They’re envisioning the sellers vacation and then their wheels start turning and they start thinking of going on a vacation or how wonderful their wedding was too. It’s like a train track, they’ve gone in a completely different direction. But, they’re here to look at a house. It’s a negative for you as a seller too because you have gone to all the trouble to prep your home for showings and all that hard work goes to the way side when the buyers are stuck focusing on your wedding photos/vacation pics. De-personalize your house!
Once you do that and get rid of all the clutter now it’s time to stage your house. Staging is super important! We’re going to start from the outside and we’re going to work our way back in. You’re going to go outside and you’re going to put fresh mulch down. If you don’t use mulch and have rock or stone make sure there are no gaps. You’re going to trim all of the bushes. If you do not have experience trimming bushes please contact a landscaper. I would be happy to give you some names of professionals that can help. There is a time and place to save money. If you are not experienced you can end up doing more damage than good.
Put a new indoor/outdoor welcome mat by the front door. We want a nice big planter by the front door with bright, bright flowers. If you have windows that allow for it, putting on some shutters, which is very, very inexpensive. I have some handymen that can help out with this. You put on shutters with a bright color that matches the the brick, it’ll gi it a little contrast. So say you have a darker brick, put on some white shutters. It just brightens things up.
Paint your front door. Paint it it’s super cheap! It makes a huge, huge difference. Once the door is freshly painted add some decor to the front door such as a contrasting colored monogram, welcome sign, or flower arrangement that gives contrast to the brick and door color. Make sure the front door opens and closes with ease. If not adjust/repair it. Again if you are not familiar with making these repairs/replacement ask for help. I have people who can do these things. Make sure the key to the front door goes in and out with ease. When the Realtor struggles to get your front door open it presents a very negative vibe to the buyers just as curb appeal can.
Going inside we want a fresh new mat/rug, by the front door. We want no clutter! When we open up the closets, there should be no clutter. We shouldn’t open up a door and the door falls off or the handle falls off.
If you want more information how to stage your home you can click here to watch another video on staging tips for your home.
After you have decluttered and staged your home, you are going to price your home slightly under market value. It’s going to help you sell faster and for more money because it’s going to attract a lot more buyers. I know a lot of sellers don’t want to do this as they don’t want to get into bidding wars. They feel this is super stressful and not good practice. I agree bidding wars can be frustrating for buyers and sometimes cause an unpleasant experience. However, it is all in the way the transaction is handled as a whole. This approach is not for every property or every seller. It can be a good selling tactic to sell your home FAST and for MORE money..however, we should analyze the market analysis for your home before making a final decision if this is the right approach for your specific home/situation. If you would like to talk more about selling your home FAST call/text me at 708.268.0462. I look forward to helping you with your real estate goals 🙂