10 Essential Tips For Selling Your Home Fast

When you decide to sell your home, it’s natural to wonder, “How can I best prepare my home to sell?” You’ll likely want to sell your house fast and for the right price.

But what’s most important when selling a house? You need to consider many essential aspects when you start your home selling process. We’re here to help you find out the secrets to a fast sale of your property so you can start creating new memories in your next home.

Let’s explore the top tips that make your property stand out, attract qualified buyers and sell your home fast.

1. Research The Current Real Estate Market

When selling your home, it’s important to understand the current housing market. Depending on the situation, you might be heading into a buyer’s or seller’s market. As a seller, a seller’s market means you might expect multiple offers in a hot market. But a buyer’s market gives you less power in the negotiations.

Before you put your house on the market, realistically assess whether it’s the best time to sell a house. If you have the financial means to hold onto your house until market conditions improve, you might walk away with a higher sales price.

2. Connect With An Experienced Real Estate Agent

For people who aren’t regularly buying and selling properties or can’t make out the legal jargon in real estate contracts, hiring a real estate agent or REALTOR^® can be well worth it. For starters, because they sell houses as a profession, they likely have their finger on the pulse of current market trends, including what people are looking for and the price you can realistically expect to get for your house.

Agents Know How To Market Your Home

Although your real estate agent will likely take on the bulk of the marketing, it’s helpful to understand their game plan. When selling a home, getting the word out is critical. A few ways to market a home include listing on a multiple listing service (MLS), promoting on social media and marketing by word-of-mouth.

It’s important to note that only professional real estate agents have access to an MLS. For sellers going the for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) route, it’s often more difficult to sell a home without the real estate market data and context an MLS can provide.

Agents Can Help Sell Your Home Faster For The Best Price

Real estate agents provide guidance on how to stage your home to present it in the best possible light. They can also help you negotiate your selling price and understand the pros and cons of each offer to buy your home. Your listing agent has the best understanding of what it takes to sell a home with regard to home showings and how to conduct a successful open house. They’ll help you navigate each stage in the home selling process.

3. Make Necessary Repairs

You might want to make any needed repairs before selling your house. Whether your home has a few dings or the walls look like someone was excavating them for buried treasure, you’ll want to patch and repaint those spots.

If your roof’s life expectancy is a year or two from expiring, you’ll want to get that taken care of because it can cause issues with home appraisals. If you know of any major systems that need replacement, such as HVAC or the water heater, be prepared to take care of these or lower your sales price to reflect the issue.

Add Value With Cost-Effective Home Improvements

After making the necessary repairs, take a look at any cost-effective upgrades and home improvements you can make that might increase your home’s value. Some home improvement projects with the best return on investment (ROI) include:

• Refinishing hardwood floors
• Adding new wood floors
• Upgrading insulation
• Renovating closets

4. Boost Your Home’s Curb Appeal

First impressions can make a world of difference to buyers. You only get one chance, so make the most of it. With that in mind, it’s important to remember that the first thing potential buyers will see is your home’s exterior. For this reason, curb appeal should be a strong consideration.

Enhance Curb Appeal By Adding New Landscape Features

There’s more you can do for your landscape than simply the general upkeep like mowing the lawn or shoveling snow, depending on the season. Other ways to increase curb appeal include having a walkway leading to your front door, planting a small flower garden and ensuring the home’s exterior is well lit with either built-in or plug-in porch lighting.

Keep an eye out for any peeling paint on the home’s exterior and repaint it. Additionally, one simple update that can add a pop of color is painting your front door. Driveway running lights can also be a welcome addition if you want to go the extra mile.

5. Stage Your Home’s Interior

When you sell your home, it’s in the spotlight. Maybe that’s why it’s called home staging. You really want it to shine under close scrutiny. Most importantly, you want prospective buyers to be able to see themselves living in the space. Here are a couple of tips.

Rely On Lighting

Functional spaces are well lit, so you’ll want to make sure you take advantage of natural lighting and add artificial lighting where needed throughout the home. In addition to helping buyers navigate the home as they tour and try to get a feel for the rooms, this will also help with your photos. We’ll explore that further in a section below.

Use Neutral Colors When Painting

Keep in mind that you want to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible, so now is not the time to have your house painted in your favorite shade of hot pink. You’ll want to go with neutral colors. A potential buyer should be able to go through your home and see a blank canvas they can make their own. That’s the best outcome of properly staging a home for sale.

6. Hire A Professional Real Estate Photographer

In the digital age, it’s important to take high-quality photos of your listing. More and more, the first place people search for their next home is online listings. Given that, your photos have to be good enough to make your home stand out in the eyes of buyers.

You’ll want to make sure that you have great lighting. You should also take your photos with the best camera you have available so that you can show sufficient detail. Your agent may be able to take pictures or recommend a professional real estate photographer if you don’t feel comfortable taking the photos yourself.

7. Get An Inspection Before Listing Your Home

Most buyers will inspect the home before the sale is finalized. If the buyer finds something they don’t like, they may back out of the sale. Instead of waiting to find out what’s wrong with the home at the finish line, consider getting an inspection before listing the property.

With an inspection report in hand, you can make necessary repairs to resolve any issues. If you can’t make the repairs, you’ll at least be able to provide more information to potential buyers. By being open with potential buyers about problems found in the inspection, you’re more likely to find a qualified buyer who knows what they’re getting into.

8. Depersonalize Your House

When a potential buyer walks through your house, you want them to imagine how they could live in the home. If you have too many personal items on display in your home, it can be hard for someone walking through your house to imagine their belongings in the same space.

If possible, remove personal touches that won’t appeal to everyone. For example, you might tuck your child’s toys into a tidy closet or remove family photos in staged rooms. Also, if you decide to host an open house, consider doing a deep clean to show your home in the best light.

9. Determine A Reasonable Asking Price

Listen to your real estate agent. You don’t want to set your home at a rock-bottom price, leaving you no room to negotiate, but you also don’t want to be so unrealistic in your pricing that people are turned off and don’t bid. Realistic pricing will let people see the value and may even start a bidding war, which is great news for a home seller.

10. Negotiate With Potential Buyers

Buying a home is a major financial transaction. You should be mindful that buyers may want certain flexibilities from you.

Buyers might also want certain contingencies built into the deal. Common contingencies include mortgage financing, the need to sell their current home and a home inspection. If you’re unwilling to accept some risk with these contingencies, it could be difficult to find a buyer.

Avoid These Common Home Selling Mistakes

• Hiding potential issues: If you hide a potential issue from the buyer, they’ll likely find out about it during the inspection. It’s best to be honest about any concerns with your home. Otherwise, the sale might fall through.
• Making emotional decisions: The house is your home. It’s natural to feel emotional about selling it. But if you’ve decided to sell, it’s critical to keep the financial impacts in mind. Selecting a buyer you feel connected to might lead to less money on the table.
• Accepting the highest offer: The highest offer might not be the best offer. Consider the contingencies tied to the deal. If the highest offer is bogged down with many contingencies, accepting a lower cash offer might lead to a quicker sale.
• Overpricing the house: If you set an unrealistic sales price, many buyers will skip right past your listing. Instead, work with your real estate agent to come up with a realistic sales price.

It’s important to remember that a qualified real estate agent can help you navigate your home selling experience and mitigate the risks that lead to these kinds of mistakes.

FAQs For Selling Your Home Fast

For more information about swiftly selling your home, check out these frequently asked questions.

How can I make my house more valuable and sell faster?

The best way to add value and sell your home fast involves decluttering throughout the home, making appropriate repairs and sensible upgrades, improving your curb appeal and pricing the home competitively. Additionally, working with the right real estate agent can help ensure a smoother process to sell your home quickly.

What makes a house harder to sell?

Every buyer has unique preferences. But in general, homes in bad locations or with difficult floor plans are more challenging to sell.

What is the biggest selling point of a house?

The biggest selling point of a house varies from buyer to buyer. But for many, a good first impression, a spacious primary bedroom, a working kitchen and a functional floor plan are top selling points.

The Bottom Line

To sell your home fast, it’s imperative to clean and stage the house properly. As you go through the home selling process, working with a trusted real estate agent can increase the chances of finding the right buyer quickly. If you want help from an experienced real estate professional who’s there for you every step of the way, connect with an agent at Rocket Homes^SM.