1. Get an inspection ahead of time
Most buyers will order a home inspection during the option period after they first agree to a deal. The inspector will look over the home’s interior and exterior and create a report that fully explains any concerns they have about the home’s condition. Most contracts allow the buyer to renegotiate the deal or walk away entirely if the inspection reveals any significant concerns. This is a major risk for you as a seller because you could potentially lose a sale after you’ve already agreed to a deal. You’ll put your home back on the market, but you know that you’ll have a hurdle to clear before the home can sell based on what the inspection showed.
You can eliminate any concern about what’s going on below the surface by ordering your own home inspection before you bring your home to the market. This gives you time to properly address any outstanding issues. If nothing else, you can disclose them on your home listing so that the buyer is well aware of the condition that the home is in.
2. Look for gaps in the market
Before you price your home, you will take steps to determine what your property could be worth. You may ask your Real Estate Agent to run a CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis, for you. This report will outline what similar homes in your area have sold for in recent months. You’ll want to price your home based on these numbers because your home has to appraise before closing so that your buyer can secure funding from their lender.
Once you have a ballpark idea of where you might price your home, it’s time to take a look at the competition. Say your home is worth around $600,000. Normally you wouldn’t want to price it too far above $600,000 because you know buyers usually filter searches around round numbers. If you priced your home at $605,000 you could risk missing out on buyers who have their search filter set up to show them listings that cost less than $600,000. Things change when you take a look at available homes and there isn’t a single home listed between $600,000 and $620,000. Buyers who have been pre-approved for a loan around this amount will be shopping for homes in this range. If you price your home somewhere between those two numbers, you’ll have a chance to dominate a specific portion of the market.
No need to worry if this seems confusing. Your Real Estate Agent has a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to pricing homes. They will help you determine the best approach.
3. Market like a pro
Marketing your home effectively is one of the best ways that you can sell your home for a higher price. You will raise your chances of making greater profits if you’re able to generate interest in your home.
Start by putting a “for sale” sign in your front yard. It may seem old fashioned but it will get your neighbors talking with their family and friends about the availability of a home near them. You should also be thinking about how you can use new and creative marketing strategies to your advantage. One tactic that is on the rise in recent years is the use of short-form video content to market and sell homes. Perhaps you film a short video to post on social media that teases an upcoming open house. Or you could film a full-length video tour of your home. Another idea is to launch an ad campaign on social media that increases the number of prospective buyers you could reach.
4. Stage like a designer
Staging your home is incredibly important because it impacts each in-person showing, in addition to the pictures you take of your home. Before you get to this point, you’ll want to take down any personal pictures you still have on your walls or shelves. Leaving these things up can cause a buyer to feel like they are intruding on your space. It’s better if they have the ability to imagine what the home would look and feel like if it were theirs.