How To Get Your House Ready To Sell.

If you are thinking about putting your home on the market, you have probably asked yourself, “Where do I start to get the house ready to sell?”  That thought can be overwhelming!  You replay all the episodes of House Hunters in your mind and consider tackling the issues those buyers raise when they are looking at houses.  Neutralize, paint, de-clutter, and the list goes on and on.  So stop right there!  Stop making yourself crazy and start at the beginning.

Contact a Realtor.  Contact a number of Realtors if you would like.  Invite them over and talk about your expectations and find out what they feel you need to do to get your home market ready.  Your house does not need to be perfect when you invite the Realtor over.  Trust me, we’ve seen it all.  This is why you are inviting them over!  It is part of a Realtors job to provide professional advice as to what, if anything you need to do to ready your home.

Buyer expectations differ not only from market to market, but from price range to price range and neighborhood to neighborhood.  Taking the advice of your friend who sold their house the next town over, may not actually be good advice.  Investing in stainless steel appliances may have been a huge necessity for their home, in their area, but for you, if could be a waste of a few thousand dollars.  Wouldn’t this be nice to know before you shelled out money you will never recoup?

The goal in selling your home is to maximize your equity.  Taking the advice of friends, the internet or HGTV may entice you to spend money that you really didn’t need to lay out.  For those that have called me over early in the process, we typically discuss what they think they need to do, and what they actually need to do.  As I write this, I am struggling to remember even once where I agreed that they needed to do everything they had on their list.  Instead, we focus only on what buyers in their price range, their neighborhood and their market will be expecting to see.

Sadly, many sellers will not contact a Realtor until they are ready to put the house on the market.  In many cases, money has already been spent and changes have already been made.  While, going above and beyond is not a bad thing and won’t hurt the potential to sell the house at all, it can affect the pocketbook.  Obviously, the seller expects the Realtor to secure the highest possible price for the house, but they tend to overlook that we can also help to be more strategic and precise in the use of funds while getting the house ready to market.  This is a part of our job that sellers often ignore and yet can assist them immensely.

So, you may be a bit disappointed that I did not give you a list of issues to tackle in regards to how to get your house ready to sell.  That’s coming.  There are definitely certain things EVERYONE needs to do when putting the house on the market.  But the main list should come from your local market professional.  Don’t hesitate to start interviewing Realtors.  Think of it as dating your Realtor before you end up listing with them.  You have time to get to know them.  Find out how prompt they are in returning your calls and answering any questions that arise.  In the end, if your “square one” is getting a professional involved, then no doubt, you are starting out in the best possible position.