10 Tips for Selling a House Quickly

You must participate actively in the process if you want to sell your house quickly. Don't wait for the buyer who can look past potential issues while you sit back and relax. Make repairs, do your research, and make an effort to showcase how fantastic your house is. Here are 10 pointers to help you navigate the procedure.

1. Pick your agent carefully.

My initial instinct is always that the sellers deserve a better agent when I see a house that has been on the market for a while and has some visible flaws, like Christmas lights still up in March or an unkept yard. You want to deal with a realtor who is as engaged in helping you sell your house as you are, so you need someone who will be honest with you about what you're doing incorrectly and how to fix it, not simply someone to put a lock box on your door and assist schedule showings.

Ask for recommendations from people you trust and who have been through the process themselves when choosing an agent to work with. And take into account your unique needs. Find a real estate agent with design knowledge if your home needs some assistance with staging. Find a real estate agent who has a track record of selling fixer-uppers if you're selling one. Choose an agent who is a good fit for your particular scenario from among the many possibilities you have.

2. Enter the market at the appropriate time.

The housing market fluctuates on a very regular timetable throughout the year. While selling a house in November or December isn't impossible, your chances of success are substantially higher in the spring because more buyers are actively looking. Your best strategy if you're looking to sell a house quickly is to market it no sooner than late February so that you can benefit from the flurry of activity.

3. Get expert photography done

The first thing a potential buyer will see of your house is the photos, which have the power to influence whether or not they decide to schedule a showing. The nicest characteristics of your property should be highlighted in real estate images, and every effort should be made to make the room appear as cozy and welcoming as possible. It's not as simple as it seems, and you shouldn't put your trust in just anyone.

4. Set a fair price.

Everyone wants to sell their property for as much money as they can, but it's crucial to be realistic. If you want to sell your house quickly, what you bought for it is much less important than what the market is asking for right now. Although you don't have to underprice your house to sell quickly, you do need to set a fair asking price. Work with your realtor to determine a starting price that makes the most sense in light of the market and your goals after using a home estimate tool to get a general concept of the range you're looking at.

5. Declutter

Get to work removing the clutter from your home as soon as you decide to advertise it (and take before photos). Box up everything you won't need right away and rent a storage facility or ask a family member if they can share some extra room in their home. This applies to all of your out-of-season apparel, books, decorations, and just about everything else that has been tucked away in the back of your cabinets and closets for a while. The more room potential buyers can see in your property without being distracted by cluttered items, the more appealing it will be to them.

6. Depersonalize

Buyers need to be able to picture themselves in the home, which is difficult for them to do if they are looking at pictures of your family. Photos, letters, personal papers, and other items that personalize the house should be removed as quickly as possible in order to give potential purchasers a clean slate.

7. Set up your house

The staging process includes some decluttering and depersonalization, but not all of it. Your home must be furnished to highlight its best features in order to sell quickly. To achieve so, you might rearrange your furniture to make the room appear larger (and remove bulky or superfluous furniture), paint your walls a neutral color, or fix any noticeable flaws. A snow shovel propped up against the garage or holiday decorations are two examples of items that should be removed from your home.

8. Adaptability is key.

When buyers begin organizing showings and you need to leave the house, the selling process might be a little annoying. Though it might be worse... You might receive absolutely no purchasers at all! We made careful to accept every single showing request when we were trying to sell our property, even if it meant having to leave the house with two pets in 15 minutes when we were in the middle of lunch. Unless it's actually impossible, alter your schedule so that it serves the buyer's needs instead of your own. If you recommend a different time than what the buyer or their agent has requested, they might not be able to make it work and instead decide not to visit the property at all.

9. Differentiate yourself

For every showing that came through, I left out fresh cookies on the kitchen counter with a sign that read, "Help yourself." I did this because I wanted the prospective buyers who came through our home to feel comfortable and welcome. Even though it was so straightforward, we received a great deal of excellent response. Such a small extra effort makes customers more likely to remember your property and boosts their mood right away. If you don't want to provide baked goodies, think about providing fruit baskets or water bottles instead. Whatever you decide to accomplish, putting in a little more effort will make you stand out from the crowd.

10. Ask for opinions

Following a viewing, some buyers' agents will get in touch with your realtor to offer positive or negative comments about the house, but many don't. However, you want to know exactly what you're doing properly and wrong, therefore it's crucial to receive precise feedback from each and every agent who enters your office. Make sure your realtor consistently follows up with the agents representing potential buyers to receive their feedback on the property and learn what the potential buyers liked or didn't like about what they saw. After then, make the necessary changes based on the input.

The average home sells in two weeks to more than 70 days, but if you take the time to optimize every step of the process, you can sell your home faster than that. While you can't make a customer appear out of thin air, you can take all necessary steps to ensure that when the correct customer does appear, they are aware right away that they have discovered their ideal match.