Selling your home can be incredibly overwhelming. There are so many things to do, lots of new terminology to learn, and an entire complicated industry to familiarize yourself with.
So, it’s probably not surprising to learn that whether your home is ready for market and how quickly it will sell depends on several complex factors. But once you’ve started working with a professional, determined a fair market value, and are itching to get started, the work still isn’t quite finished!
8 Important Things to Do Before Selling Your Home
Before showing your home to any potential buyer, you need to ensure it’s “open house ready.” And that means you need to take some time to make the place look as warm, clean, and inviting as possible. Here are eight vital things to do before selling your home.
1. Identify Issues and Make Repairs
Broken fixtures, holes in the walls or ceilings, and other issues can immediately turn off a buyer and send them scrambling to another listing. So, before you list your home for sale, take some time to identify issues and make repairs. Start with the minor repairs first and work your way up.
2. Declutter
Remember: when you’re showing a home, you want the buyers to see its full potential. You’re selling a dream, so take some time to declutter and organize your home before you sell. Try to remove anything that doesn’t quite belong and keep it as minimal as possible.
3. Depersonalize
Depersonalizing is essentially removing the elements of your home that make it seem like someone else lives there (even if they do!). When buyers walk into your house, they need to be able to visualize themselves living there. And that’s incredibly difficult with pictures of another family all over the place.
4. Stage Your Home
Staging your home is vital. As we already mentioned, homeowners want to walk into your home and visualize an idealized version of their life. If you can stage the home they want, they will leap at the opportunity to live there.
5. Work on Curb Appeal
When buyers drive up to a private showing or an open house, the first thing they see is the front yard, garden, driveway, sidewalk, and front of your home. That’s what we in the business call curb appeal. Work on your home’s curb appeal because it is your first opportunity to make an impression, and you want to make it a good one.
6. Fix Up the Backyard
Now that many people spend more time at home, backyards are more crucial than ever. So, take some time to fix, clean, and stage your backyard before putting your house on the market. If buyers can imagine hosting friends and family on the back patio with their children running around the yard, you’ve done your job!
7. Clean
This cannot be stated enough: clean everything. Cleanliness is so incredibly important when you’re trying to sell a home. If you make your home spotless and sparkling, you will show buyers how nice the house can look and make them feel more comfortable while they’re visiting.
8. Work With a Professional
And last, don’t try to do it on your own. Experience goes a long way, and real estate professionals have a deep understanding of this very complex industry. They also have networks of buyers, contractors, marketing channels, promotional experience, and selling experience that you might not have.
If you’d like to sell your home in Jacksonville or anywhere in Northeast Florida, contact the Welch Team today! Our team of real estate experts would be delighted to help you stage and sell your home.
Wondering what your home is worth in today’s market? Get your instant estimated home value for free today!
