The Basics
10 ways to sell your home faster
A few basic elements can make the difference between a quick home sale and a frustrating ordeal. The experts offer their best tips.
10 tips from the experts
Here is some of what experts advise to speed up your sale:
Finish the "honey do" list. Just about every homeowner has a string of little repairs that never quite get done. Now's the time. Fix the screens, oil that squeak, patch the cracks, paint the trim. Stuff that you've long since stopped noticing could be shouting "Deferred maintenance!" to every potential buyer.
The cost: A few bucks if you're handy, a couple of hundred or so if you hire someone who is.
Get inspected. A pre-sale inspection can help in two ways inspections can identify problems that could thwart a sale in time to fix them. And if there are no major problems, an inspection can publicize that fact to skittish buyers.
"Having an inspection (report) right on the counter during the open house… shows the buyers that the seller's got nothing to hide.
Pack up the clutter. "Clutter eats equity “
Too much stuff makes rooms look smaller and focuses buyers' attention on your possessions rather than the home you're trying to sell. That's why many professional stagers recommend removing as much as a third of your things to better show off rooms and closets.
Buyers "can't imagine themselves living there if they can't see the space."
Depersonalize and neutralize. The first items that should go in those packing boxes: family photos, collections and just about anything else that says "you." Streamline your artwork and consider toning down bold decorating statements. That means neutral shades if you need to repaint walls or replace carpets.
"Buyers have a hard enough time envisioning how their stuff will look on your walls. By neutralizing your decor, you can help give them the blank canvas they need to imagine your house as theirs."
The cost: $10 and up for paint; $500 and up for new carpet.
Clean like a fiend. Q-Tip clean - cotton swab to faucets and fixtures, scouring fingerprints from all the switch plates, shining windows until they're spotless and vacuuming up every last dog hair from the baseboards. "You should be able to eat off the kitchen floor, the bathroom floor."
You'll need to banish suspect smells as well; you don't want your house to become known in real-estate circles as "the cat pee place." If your pets have had one too many accidents, you may need to replace the affected carpet and padding and have the underlying floor sealed. If you're not sure how your place smells, get your least tactful friend to take a few whiffs and tell you the honest truth.
Stage the rooms. Less is more keep in mind when someone views your home there will be a real estate agent possible parents or friends all coming along to view your home make your home as spacious as possible e.g that dining room table does not need the leaf in it your
Take everything off your fridge including what is on top of your fridge
Declutter your counter tops
Declutter your closets and drawers
Tend to the floors. Keeping them spotless won't help if they're dated, worn or impossibly stained. Look for compromises that can improve the home's appearance without busting your wallet. If the damage to a tile floor is limited, for instance, replacing a few tiles and regrouting might do the trick,
Carpets should be steam-cleaned to see if they're salvageable,. If not, you may be able to reduce the costs of replacement by offering to do some of the work, such as removing the old carpet and moving furniture.
And banish scatter rugs, Little rugs add to the visual clutter and can be dangerous besides.
Kick up the curb appeal. By now, you probably realize the garden gnomes are a no-no. But you may not realize how many sales you're losing before potential buyers even get to the front door.
"Most people will start their search for a home on the Internet. If your house's Internet photo doesn't 'wow!' them, they might never call for a showing, "That's why your front landscaping needs to be in perfect condition."
Set the right price. In frenzied markets, sellers who put outrageous price tags on their homes sometimes are rewarded. As markets cool, however, a too-high asking price can lead to a home being shunned by agents and buyers. A seller may think she's just testing the market, assuming buyers will at least make an offer, but buyers may assume she's unreasonable and move on.
Your goal should be a fair price -- something that's reasonable given the price of other homes in your area.
"Buyers who are actively searching for a fairly-priced home, will pounce on what they perceive is fair value."
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