Getting Your Home Ready for a Competitive Sale
Selling your home is a great way to take advantage of the built-up equity you’ve achieved in the investment. This equity — bolstered by an increase in value that your home has benefitted from in the years that you’ve owned it — is essential when looking to move to a new city or into a bigger home that better suits your needs.
A home seller might think that this process is fairly straightforward, however. The truth is, listing a home is the easy part, but real estate often behaves erratically and a home sale can take weeks or months to go through with a potential buyer. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to improve the stock of your real estate property and shift it faster than the competition.
Lean on a realtor for professional assistance.
It’s a good idea to utilize a real estate agent when planning a home sale. Realtors plan open houses, they list the property on all the major marketplace sites and locations, and real estate agents are there for you to walk you through each step in the process. Homeowners, perhaps like you, who are moving for the first time need a real estate agent to sell your house, those with a little experience here still benefit greatly from the inclusion of a realtor.
The use of a real estate agent will cost you, on average they charge about a 6% commission on any sale they broker, however the help of a professional realtor in this endeavor can boost the value of your final sale price and actually increase your takeaway from the transaction.
Utilize standard and luxury home upgrades to draw in the largest pool of interest.
Upgrades to the home are often a major draw for potential buyers. Homes in southern cities benefit greatly from the introduction of a new air conditioner, for instance. This appliance helps you, or the new owner, stay cool and comfortable during the summer and takes one major headache off of their plates. The air conditioner unit is a workhorse and often lasts more than a decade, but without proper maintenance, an AC unit can quickly begin to deteriorate. Making sure that your air conditioner is in pristine condition is a great way to boost interest in your home as you go about selling it.
Similarly, upgrades to the kitchen or living room are welcome additions for those attending an open house. This is especially true for homes that are older; a modern touch in these all-important living spaces gives viewers the ability to envision their new lives in your home far better than with aging décor or appliances. In fact, even just a new coat of paint can increase the final sale price by thousands of dollars. Keeping up with trends in design and style is something that any homeowner considering a move must do in order to remain competitive on the market.
Making your home stand out is a tough job, but it’s one that you must work toward in order to facilitate a fast turnaround on your listing. Engage a real estate agent to help you stage and market the home in order to draw in a greater number of interested viewers while updating the look and feel of the home in order to tailor it to their specific tastes.
Homebuyers love amenities that are built to last, so replacing old carpets with hardwood floors or Formica countertops with a custom granite piece can really improve the resale value and interest in your home at the same time. Make sure you do your homework on trending interests in your local market and then jump on the opportunities.