First Time Home Selling Tips
Are you going to be selling a home for the first time? Selling a home can be a daunting task, especially if you haven’t done it before. Selling a home is totally different from buying one as instead of focusing on emotions and feelings; you will have to focus on gaining maximum profit.
Unless you learn the ropes on how to sell a home, your home might end up sitting in the market for a long time. In some cases, it might even take years.
So before you put up your property in the market for sale, make sure to gather some essential information and tricks to help you sell your house easily and quickly.
If you would rather not take the trouble or if you don’t have time, you can consider selling your home to iBuyers, provided it is in excellent shape.
Without further ado, here are the best tips you can apply while selling a home.
Do Your Research on Movers
When you are selling your home for the first time you might not think about hiring a mover as this is a task that happens at the end of your sale. Picking a mover, however, is a critical task. Anyone who has ever sold a home before will tell you that hiring the wrong mover can be disastrous! When you are moving a long-distance, getting the wrong moving company can further exacerbate the problem.
For this reason, you should research the best moving companies, especially when you will be relocating out of state. Maximum Real Estate Exposure provides some exceptional tips for interviewing movers that have a trustworthy reputation.
Not picking the right mover is one of the top moving mistakes you’ll want to avoid!
Ensure Your Home is Show-Ready
There is a high chance that buyers would like to come for an inspection before they purchase the property. Or they might even ask for virtual house tours. As per the National Association of Realtors 2018 report, virtual house tours are crucial to buyers within the age range 53-71.
Are the rooms freshly painted? Have you professionally cleaned the floors or carpeting? Or have you replaced the outdated light fixtures? What about obsolete hardware on cabinets? Is your home’s curb appealing?
These are all low-cost home improvements, but it will have a significant impact on how the buyers perceive your home in their first visit. First impressions matter!
If your home isn’t show-ready, it may turn off many potential home buyers.
Also, a study found out that 38% of new home buyers were looking to avoid renovations and problems with plumbing or electricity. Make sure to fix everything before you put up your home for sale.
Focus more on functional areas such as kitchen and bathroom while renovating.
Get Rid of Personal Items
Do you have lots of personal items like family photos or your artwork on the wall? You should take them down and get them packed away into appropriate moving boxes.
Everyone has their personal taste, and the home buyers are looking for a house to make it their own. Don’t let your emotions lead you. Offer them a clean slate so that their mind will trick them into thinking that it is their home now and not yours.
Plus, keep your pets out of sight too when they come for an inspection. Not everyone is a pet lover.
Offer Competitive Pricing
Rely on the advice given by real estate agents when it comes to listing your price. Resist the urge to overprice.
As per studies, close to 60% of homes are sold at or above the listing price when homebuyers accept an offer in the first week. In the succeeding week, it drops 7% and continues to slump as the weeks go on.
Research is key. Take help from your real estate agent to find out how the other homes similar in size and condition as yours are listed in your area.
Mention The Walkability
When you put up your home for sale, mention the positives about your home’s neighborhood on the list. Brag about your home’s walkability, nearby grocery stores, and restaurants, parks, proximity to public transportation, and so on.
As per Redfin.com, each point on the walkability score can surge a home’s price by $3,250 on average.
Use Marketing Channels
Apart from allowing your real estate agent to do their job, you can advertise your home through various marketing channels like advertising on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and so on.
Make sure to hire a professional photographer to click a nice photo of your home, which you can upload online. As per The Wall Street Journal, home listings with more appealing photos gain anywhere between $935 and $116,076 extra than those that have a poor quality image.
Also, as per VHT Studios, home sellers who used professional real-estate photos were able to sell their homes 32% faster as compared to other listings.
Prepare Your Negotiation
Be firm when it comes to things you won’t give up during your sale like repairs and closing costs. Also, know beforehand what you will negotiate like repairs. When you prepare in advance, it will help you to avoid bargaining over minor issues that might cost you the sale. But have realistic expectations.
Time Your Sale Well
Realtor.com says that sellers usually get the highest prices and sell their homes faster when they list in early April. Also, it has been found out that when sellers list their home in the first week of April, they gain $17,000 more for selling a typical home.
Moreover, research points out that Thursday is the best day to debut your home.
Consider all these factors. But it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to sell your home on other days or months.
Know Your Closing Expenses
Lest you end up in a shock when you come to know about the seller expenses, be aware of it beforehand.
Usually, brokerage fees are the largest expense you will have to bear in your home selling process.
Also, keep yourself updated about the cost of an instrument survey, transfer taxes, re-dating of an abstract, and the likelihood of supporting a buyer by offering seller concessions.
If appropriate, consider keeping an updated mortgage pay-off balance. It will help you determine your closing expenses after the buyers receive the purchase offer.
Wrapping-Up The Best First Time Selling Tips
Selling a home is not a child’s play. You need to be mentally and emotionally prepared for it and know the tricks.
Hopefully, this article will help you sell your home faster and help you gain maximum profit. But as mentioned earlier, don’t keep unrealistic expectations. Research the market and see how other homeowners in your area are selling their homes of similar size and condition as yours.
Also, keep yourself updated about down payment requirements as home buyers are likely to submit offers with a lower down payment than you might be used to seeing. This is normal as down payments come in all shapes and sizes. It is not uncommon at all for a first-time buyer to have a small down payment, especially given pricing levels across the country.
Other Valuable Clever Real Estate Guidance
Read more great content in these previously published real estate articles.
- What to think about before buying a home – get some sound advice on some of the more essential considerations before you purchase a home.
- Alternative financing options – are there other means of financing when buying a home beside a traditional mortgage? Yes, there are! Find out what some of them are in the article at Clever Real Estate Guidance.
About the author: The above article on selling a home for the first time was written by Richa Parmar. Richa is an architect and passionate in the field of designing & creativity. Her inclination towards nature has made her take up a lot of challenging assignments in the subject of “landscape” and also has made her initiate writing blogs. Presently she works as a Senior Manager Architect Blogger at GharPedia portal.