In this wild market, sellers often think they’ll sell their home the first weekend that it’s up for sale…and for top dollar, no less! But the reality is that is not always the case. From photography to proper pricing, there are 3 essential steps to selling your home to get more money in less time.
Prepare your home to sell
Home staging is key to selling your home for more money and in less time. We live in a time where people can sift through photos of your home, and even take a virtual tour, before they ever walk through your doors! If your house is crowded with furniture, or whether your home is vacant, it matters. Because, if a buyer can’t envision their own things in the house, it can turn them away before they’ve even driven down your street.
Staging can happen whether you’re still living in the home or not. Professional stagers can assess your own personal items and advise you on how to best maximize what you own. They’ll tell you want to pack away, adjust or move to help your property show in its best light. If your property is a vacant vessel, stagers can help bring life to the space. This helps buyers imagine how the space can live and how their own furniture could fit into the home.
If professional staging isn’t an option, do it yourself! There are simple updates that you can make to prepare your home to sell. A good place to start is making sure that the home is neat and clean. You can also swap out hardware, paint the front door, add flowers to the yard, and throw pillows on the couches.
A great real estate agent will be able to help guide you through the process. They will know the ins and outs of what will help your home make the best first impression. This includes both over the internet and in-person.
Price your home to sell
Ideally, your home should be listed at market value. Right now, homes are flying off the market. With the help of staging, photography, and digital marketing, it should sell pretty quickly – and sometimes with multiple offers to choose from. These areas of expertise can be what makes selling your home to get more money in less time possible.
Pricing your home correctly is an artform. Even in this hot market, over pricing your home can lead to languishing on the market. Additionally, overpricing can even lead to selling for less than the market value. It’s hard to imagine a home being on the market for more than a few days few days right now, but it’s still happening. And, more times than not, it’s due to price. This helps explain why when hot homes are going pending in two day, the average market time is still 27 days. (As of May 2021)
You also don’t want to assume that the estimated values offered up online are your home’s market value. Until a Realtor is able to tour your home and take note of the improvements and any deferred maintenance, it’s hard to compare your home against others that have sold. Determining market value requires a lot more than just averaging the price for square foot in your area. We all know that in the Portland area, drastically different homes can be located near one another, and their price for square foot are not equal.
The best way to truly determine your home’s market value is to hire a local expert. A real estate agent will use their knowledge and expertise of the current market trends, and then compare your home to all of the other homes that have sold in your area. With that complete view of your micro market, they will come up with a number that’s priced to sell.
Place your home up for sale
Selling a home quickly is so much more than putting a sign in the yard. A good real estate agent doesn’t just post and pray, they have a plan. Part of that plan is adding your home to the MLS and making sure it syndicates to all the home search sites on the internet. This makes your home easy to find online. Additionally, a great agent will also have a rock-solid marketing plan to ensure that your home gets the most traffic possible in the shortest amount of time. That’s the key to getting multiple offers and the best terms!
Partnering with a great Realtor can make the difference between multiple offers and twiddling your thumbs, wondering when an offer is going to come in. Yes, even in this red-hot market. This current market can be overwhelming if you don’t have an expert buffering the chaos for you and keeping buyers and other agents at bay. Knowing what terms, beyond a great price, is truly best for you and your family is crucial.
Lastly, don’t be fooled into thinking that selling without an agent will net you more money. For sale by owners historically net less than those that hire an agent and pay the brokerage commission. Why would you want take on the headache of navigating legal contracts and all the nuances of selling a house to end up netting less money? Hand the process over to a professional and let us guide you every step of the way!
If you live in the Portland area, and are looing to sell your home to get more money in less time, start by getting an analysis of your property. This will help you review all the available options for your specific circumstances. Then contact Erica Parsons with Keller Williams Realty to discuss your best course of action. Click here to connect.
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