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Sell Your Home
you an offer for your house. Thanks to
detailed web sites and online virtual tours, home buyers are more
sophisticated and demanding than ever before. At a bare minimum, would-be
sellers need to do away with clutter and make basic repairs. Want to know
how to really make a property stand out from the crowd and sell quickly?
Keep reading.
1. Hire a professional designer
A well-decorated home will sell faster and for more money because prospective buyers can see the potential in the home. It's a lot easier to imagine yourself in a beautiful home than in one that looks frumpy. That's why more and more sellers are hiring interior designers to do everything from paint walls a neutral color to rearrange furniture and clean up clutter. Some even rent artwork. This service, known as "staging," can get expensive. You may be able to stage your home for a few hundred dollars or it may soar to several thousand dollars for high-end properties.
Experts across the country agree that the return on investment is worthwhile for most properties. Some research shows that staged homes in San Francisco Bay area spent half the time on the market and sold for the asking price. While "non-staged" homes became stale, languished and eventually sold for 2% below the asking price.
2. Hire someone to organize your home
A lovely d?cor will get you only so far if you have cluttered closets and can't step foot in the basement it's so full of stuff. To really get the buyers interested in your home, you need to highlight your home's storage space. That means every area should be clutter free and organized - closets, bathroom vanities, the garage, attic and basement. Can your linen closets comfortably store your towels? This may be a factor in how easy it is to sell you home.
If you are as organizationally challenged and find this concept sounds like torture, it might make sense to hire a professional organizer for $75 to $100 an hour. This is especially helpful for those who have accumulated a large amount of clutter having lived in their homes for many years. You may not know how to dig themselves out of the mess.
Some organizers will even pay for themselves by helping you run a yard sale to clean out unwanted items. Ask your real estate agent f you're not sure how to find this type of service. Most have a list of recommended organizers at their fingertips.
3. Hire a professional photographer
Great photos can make a difference, especially since up to 74% of home buyers begin their search online, according to the National Association of Realtors. Indeed, the web has become such an important marketing tool hiring a professional photographer, which can cost as little as $100, is definitely a good investment online snapshots. Think of it this way: The photos of you home are the first impression. If someone doesn't like how your home looks in the pictures, he or she won't bother to see the property in person. Is that a risk you're willing to take?
For quite some time it was OK to have one photo of the outside of the house. Not any more. These days, potential buyers want to see up to a 10-picture slideshow detailing multiple rooms before they commit to a walk-through. If you post small, grainy pictures, you will most definitely risk losing foot traffic in your home.
4. Try aggressive marketing
Despite the hot national market, some local markets are starting to cool. For example, homes in the western suburbs of Boston that previously sold in just 15 to 30 days are starting to languish on the market for up to 90 days. Some realtors have started using marketing gimmicks to increase the number of potential buyers to walk through clients' homes.
What strategies are common? Rather than slash the asking price, real estate agents might ask homeowners to provide buyers with a cash rebate that's marketed as a decorating allowance, or encourage condo owners to pay the maintenance fees for a full year. Nine times out of 10, such gimmicks cost less reducing the asking price. It's just one strategy to get a would-be buyer excited about your home.
5. Host an open house
The benefits of an open house are arguable. Industry experts agree that they are a great way for real estate agents to met new clients and tend to benefit brokers more than home owners. But that doesn't mean that they open the door to a potential buyer. The key is varying the times of the day and week so that folks with hectic schedules can make it to a viewing. Make sure to schedule open houses on Saturdays, as well as in the evenings after work.
You can also choose to show your home when it shows the best. Hold an open house that will show off your beautiful garden during the morning before the flowers start to wilt.
Show off your stunning sunset view in late-afternoon light. Share your favorite parts of you home with potential buyers. They will love them too.