It's already the last week in January and 2020 is finally behind you!
Now, it's time to start making plans for the new year. If selling your home is part of those plans, this is the best time to get started.
You don't need me to tell you that organizing and decluttering your home is a good place to start. Between Marie Kondo, Clea and Joanna (The Home Edit Show) you can't avoid hearing about this!
Here's what I can tell you from my long-time experience as a real estate broker...will your house sell if you don't declutter it? Yes. Will it attract the largest number of buyers and get the highest possible offers? No.
So, here are 5 steps you can take to get ready to sell your home in 2021.
1. Your house is for sale. Not your home. This is key to getting yourself on board with the process of selling your home. After years of building memories, decorating, and hosting family and friends in your home, you are now getting ready to do something else. You are selling the house that you own.
Once you can think of it as a house, you can remind yourself what you did when you sold that jacket on Facebook Marketplace or Ebay. You wanted the item to look as good as possible. You wanted to attract buyers. Same with your home.
With this is mind, you can get your house ready to show to potential buyers.
2. Make repairs . Remember, you want to get the highest possible offer for your house. Buyers will not pay top dollar for a house that needs repairs. Start at the front door of your house and look room-to-room to see what repairs need to get done. Fix torn screens and broken windows. Make sure that all windows can be opened and fix any window sashes that aren't working. Look for drips in sinks and showers, ceilings that have old water stains, loose railings on the stairs. Be as critical as you will want to be when you are looking for your new house.
You might not be able to repair everything. Give me a call and I can help you identify which repairs will get you the best return with buyers.
3. Anticipate negotiations. Selling your house is a process involving negotiation. When you receive an offer, there are often negotiations on price, closing dates and even on items the buyer would like you to leave behind.
After the home inspection, there may be other negotiations for repairs that were identified in the inspection.
Take a deep breath and hear out each of the requests during a negotiation. Don't take the issues or the buyers' requests personally. As your representative, I will share my recommendations with you and represent your best interests in negotiating with the buyers' side as you request. Focusing on the end result of the transaction is important.
Let's say you're asked to make a $3,000 repair that came up as a result of the home inspection. If you agree to the request, you will sell your house for $565,000 and move forward with your goal and your plans. If you reject the request, and the transaction ends, the next offer, may not be as high and there may be more requests.
4. Start looking for a new home. If you have not already found your new home start the process of narrowing down your location, neighborhoods, type of house, etc. You will be ready to list your house for sale when you have a plan in place for where you will go when your house is sold.
If you receive an offer before you have found a house can you make temporary housing arrangements? On the other hand, if you find a house that you want to buy first, you may have to wait until your house has sold and the money is available. The seller of the house that you want to buy will want to know that your house is at least listed for sale.
I will work with you and the buyers' side to find a solution that is acceptable to you and keeps the transaction moving forward.
5. Get the key people involved at the right time. Selling and buying real estate has many different parts involved. You can rely on me to guide you through the process.
My recommendation is that you get certain key people involved at the right time. This includes hiring a real estate attorney to review the Purchase & Sales Agreement and to be with you at the closing table.
You may also need a mortgage lender for the purchase of your new home. Some lenders are more proactive about returning your calls and working with your time frame.
It's also a good idea to call a mover as soon as possible. Depending on the time of year, movers can get very busy.
As always, I am here to help you and can make recommendations to these service professionals if you need them.
I'm looking forward to working with you to get your house sold and, if you're staying local, to helping you find a new home!
