First-Time Sellers Checklist

When you’re selling a home, several factors can create a complex process. You’ll consider preparing the house, listing it with an accurate price, possible repairs, marketing to find a buyer, negotiating deals, packing, and moving. Your goal as the seller is always to make a quick sale and gain the most profit. To do this, you’ll consider the smallest of details to improve your home’s value and appeal to potential buyers. Though this might seem scary for a first-time seller, it doesn’t have to be. A critical component of success is understanding and anticipating problems before they arise. When you do this, it helps ensure less stress and a greater profit in the end.

 

To ease your mind and help you sell your first home, The Truss Team has put together a checklist of essential items to consider.

The first step is to ensure your home is prepared for sale. There are several steps to this process that range from simple to more complex. Depending on the state of your home, this might mean deep cleaning, decluttering, or making more significant upgrades.

 

Deep cleaning is a great place to start, and any reputable company can assist you. By hiring a company, you’ll guarantee everything from floor to ceiling is clean, including things most homeowners overlook. Though you may believe your home is clean, even a spotless home can be made to look better, which will ensure quality photographs and videos. In addition to cleaning, you’ll want to declutter your spaces. To do this, you’ll remove pictures, toys, knick-knacks, and other personal belongings. You want to create a blank slate so potential buyers can visualize themselves living there.

 

If there are any repairs necessary to sell your home, consider hiring a local home improvement company to help. Simple tasks like adding a fresh coat of paint inside or outside the house, replacing carpeting or flooring, fixing light switches, and updating old fixtures can be easily done. You’ll want neutral tones throughout the house to ensure natural lighting highlights the features and doesn’t distract buyers. If you have additional time, a full renovation might be smart but talk to your realtor in depth about it.

 

One final step to preparing your home is staging. Doing this will help your home stand out and ensure you get up to 20% more profit in the end. There are several companies well-versed in West, TX, real estate and luxury property staging, and a little research can help. These companies understand design trends and luxury upgrades, know how to highlight specific features, and know how to draw in certain audiences to sell your home faster.  Staged homes tend to sell 79% faster and are more likely to capture potential buyers' attention.

Another way to prepare your home and make it stand out is by improving the curb appeal. The first thing a buyer will see when they view your home is the outside. An unkempt yard, chipped paint, or dark exterior will deter buyers and cause your home to get passed by. A great way to fix this is to spruce up the curb appeal.

 

Think about tasks like having the flower beds freshened with new mulch and bright flowers and having the hedges trimmed. Adding in additional flower planters, especially near the door, will draw attention to the home and create a focal point. You can delegate these tasks to a landscaping company to save time and energy. In addition, consider having them take care of any branches or leaves around the yard and in the gutters, clean and powerwash the driveway, fix any necessary repairs, and add lighting to highlight these features. Anything you can do to create an appealing exterior and bring attention to the home is a positive.

One critical element to whether your home sells quickly is the listing price. A home listed too high will sit on the market longer, gain less traction, and becomes less appealing to buyers. If it sits on the market too long, you’ll create the illusion that something is wrong with the home and end up losing time and money. Subsequently, a home listed too low with the intent to create more appeal or bidding wars might end up costing you time and money as well. While you might think a lower price will cause negotiations and bidding wars, often times a buyer will simply offer less than the asking price, and your home will continue to sit on the market.

 

You’ll want to work hand in hand with your Waco real estate agent to use their knowledge and tools to price your home correctly. Figuring out a fair market value, using comparative market analysis, and using a home valuation tool will help you figure out the correct price point for a quick sale. Once you’ve figured out the best price for your home, you can list it and continue the process.

Though last on the list, this is easily one of the most critical steps for every first-time seller. You might consider selling your home by owner, and it’s certainly possible, but having a quality real estate agent who knows the ins and outs of the current market and region will be significantly better. You want someone by your side along this journey that has your best interests at heart, has a network of professionals in the area to help with tasks, and has plenty of experience. Find someone who knows facts about other homes in the area, how fast they’ve sold, current rates, and how to market your home properly. Quality agents will also have knowledge and tips on preparing your home, companies that can help with home improvements and staging, plus know how to price your home for a quick sale.

 

These tips will help ensure your home sells quickly and with minimal stress. When you’re ready to list your home with expert agents, contact the qualified agents of The Truss Team.