Want to sell your house quicker than the baristas sell out of gluten free double fudge brownies at your local hipster café? If so, be sure to embrace these 4 savvy tips for helping your house to sell quickly.
1. Don’t Set the Home’s Asking Price Too High
Your real estate agent can help you to identify the likeliest ideal selling price for your house based on sales statistics from comparable homes in your neighborhood. Resist the temptation to overprice the home. A home that’s priced right is likely to sell quickly in the current real estate market, while a home that is overpriced is likely to languish without offers.
2. Make Sure the House Shows as Well as Possible
After you make the decision to sell your home, evaluate its appearance from the perspective of a potential buyer. Make a list of all the things you can easily do to enhance how it shows both from the exterior and the interior. The following ideas may be useful to you as you tackle this subjective process:
On the Home’s Exterior:
- If your landscape lacks visual interest, plant a few colorful flowers in the most prominent spot you can see as you park, exit your car and approach the house.
- Evaluate the appearance of the most prominent entry door and repair, re-paint, or replace it as necessary.
- If you see any obviously damaged siding, repair it.
- Cut the grass and complete any necessary weeding, pruning, trimming and sweeping.
On the Home’s Interior:
- If the walls look dingy, out of date or overly colorful, repaint them in basic but trendy colors.
- Get rid of anything that creates a cluttered appearance in the house.
- Clean obsessively. Dust off your light fixtures and the tops of your ceiling fans.
- Wash the glass in the windows, dust the window sills and remove cobwebs.
3. Ensure the House for Sale Is Marketed Well
If you utilize the services of a competent real estate agent, your home will be marketed via the MLS. It’s a good idea to have the home professionally photographed so it looks as appealing as possible on the MLS and other lead-based sites that utilize MLS data feeds.
When interviewing real estate agents, be sure to ask them whether they will do any marketing for your home beyond placing the listing on the MLS. Some real estate agents will promote your listing via their blogs and social media networks. Some will arrange video tours that can be promoted via blogs and internet websites. Some will host open houses and invite other real estate agents to preview the property, increasing the likelihood that you will receive multiple offers on your house.
4. Be Sure You Only Deal With Qualified Buyers
Unfortunately, there are people who will make offers on homes without actually having the funds available to follow through on their offers. Entering into a contract with these individuals can cost you significant valuable market time. Meanwhile your home’s listing grows stale and other potential buyers vanish like the snow at your favorite ski slope in June.
It isn’t possible to entirely prevent this scenario, but you can take steps to reduce the likelihood that it will happen to you. When you interview real estate agents, be sure to ask about their business practices regarding how they ensure that potential buyers are qualified. Some real estate agents require lender pre-qualification or pre-approval before they will show homes to them; they will only show homes within each buyer’s lender-verified price range.
When entering into a contract with a prospective buyer who plans to pay cash, be sure to have your real estate agent include a clause in the contract specifying that the buyer is required to provide proof of funds. In most scenarios, a serious cash buyer should be able to procure a proof-of-funds letter from their financial institution within a couple of business days.
Dealing only with qualified buyers will significantly reduce the likelihood that your transaction will fall out of escrow once you and a buyer mutually decide to enter a contract.
These are 4 of the best ways to dramatically raise the odds that your house will sell quickly. Best wishes for a swift and prosperous house sale.
