When selling a home, you always feel like there’s something you haven’t done or something you could have done to expedite the process. Selling your home can be an overwhelming experience, and there is so much that needs to be done that having a home-selling checklist will go a long way.
Before putting your house on the real estate market, there are several things you can do to increase your chances of closing a great deal real fast.
Before making any rash decisions, we have compiled a home-selling checklist that can apply to virtually any home seller. It’s a step-by-step guide that includes advice from professional real estate agents about the best way to go about it.
1. Start By Looking for a Stellar Real Estate Agent
The very first thing you should tick on your home-selling checklist is a professional real estate agent. You see, you need the expertise, knowledge, and swelling skills that come with a professional. They understand the current real estate market and will check your house prep-plans to give you the go-ahead.
Find a local real estate agent that has a deeper understanding of your competition and your neighborhood. They will check out your home and advice you on what buyers are currently looking for, what features will help sell your home faster in that area, and what kind of repairs and renovations you shouldn’t be bothered with.
It’s common to find home sellers that spend too much money doing repairs on unnecessary areas of their homes. It’s imperative that you find an agent before you spend any money fixing the house.
2. Transform the House into the Buyer’s Future Home
What’s on your dresser? On top of the fridge? How about that dining table you no longer use?
These areas are possibly cluttered with your personal items and while it may not seem like clutter to you because it’s always been there, it will to the buyers. You need to give your buyers the opportunity to vision this house as their home and not yours. If they look at it as it is, they will see your mess, and it may dissuade them from making an offer.
One of the most important items on your home-selling checklist is decluttering. Decluttering means clearing up both small items like toys and large items like unnecessary furniture. The buyers don’t need to squeeze through furniture to pass through so declutter and make the rooms feel big and spacious.
The idea here is to help them envision this house as their home, which you can also do by depersonalizing. Depersonalizing is the process of removing any personal items like your family photos from the house. Remove everything that reflects your personality, interests, or family before listing your home.
Avoid stashing everything in the closets while you are at it because buyers will look in the closets as well.
3. Deep Clean Your Home Top to Bottom
Deep cleaning your home is the next item on our home-selling checklist. Now that you’re done decluttering, you need to clean, and this does not necessarily mean tidying up the house. Deep cleaning involves getting to every corner of the house and cleaning places you possibly never thought to clean, like door frames and baseboards.
Clean under furniture because potential buyers may move them, the carpets, the basement, kitchen cabinets, etcetera. Think of yourself as the buyer and check places you would want to see, then clean them. This should also include the exterior of the house so if the siding, gutters, and doors are dirty, give them a thorough cleaning as well.
You may need to have a cleaning checklist as well for this because you don’t want to skip any areas. During the cleaning process, it’s imperative that you get rid of any smells and odors that may be clinging to the house. The thing is, given that this is your home, you may have nose blindness and may not notice any smells.
Ask a friend or your real estate agent to come in and tell you what different areas of your home smell like. This is extremely important if you have pets because as adorable as they are, they can leave very bad odors if not properly cleaned after. Apart from pet odors, cigarette smoke, musty furniture, mold, and stinky drains are some of the things that cause bad odors.
4. Hide Your Valuables From Nosy Buyers
You’d be surprised at how nosy people can be, and some may downright have bad intentions. Don’t leave your prized jewelry lying around or any possessions that you feel are priceless to you. They may get tramples, handled, jostled, ruined, or stolen by strangers.
If you have certain things you wouldn’t want other people touching, then it’s a good idea to lock it away for now. Privacy is also very important, so put away things that may reveal too much, like your home family tree that may list all your names and kids’ birth dates.
5. Do Some Minor Repairs
This is an essential part of your home-selling checklist. When deep cleaning your home, you’ll get to all the nooks and crannies and note all the areas that need repairs.
One of the best things you can do is catch the minor repairs before the buyers because it could hurt your final price. Buyers will note anything and everything that may help them renegotiate and lower the price of the house.
Besides, once they see the minor repairs, they will assume you don’t take care of major repairs either, and they won’t want to buy a home with major maintenance issues. If they have any doubts, you’ll only receive lowball offers. If you’re dealing with a leaky roof, faulty AC, or any kind of electrical wiring, you may need to hire professionals for the repairs.
6. Help the Home Inspection Process
A home inspection is mandatory when selling a home, and catching those repairs will go a long way. Home inspectors look at the overall big picture and make reports on things like structural issues, electrical problems, roof condition, and water damage. They evaluate how all these things impact the house.
The thing is, a long list of repairs will discourage buyers from purchasing your house or ask that you do all the repairs. The more repairs you handle now, the shorter the list, and the less the buyer will demand. If your house has missing railing, peeling paint, and broken cabinets, the home appraiser may not approve, and the home-selling process will take even longer.
7. Increase the Bottom Line With a Few Upgrades
While doing the repairs, note what items are too worn out and are cheap and easy to replace. If you have leaky faucets, it’s a good idea to replace instead of repairing them. Replace these items with modern and appealing replacement to raise the value of your home.
Some of the things you can do include replacing light fixtures, repainting the house in natural colors, changing doorknobs, and the like. Make sure you do the same for your curb appeal and improve the exterior of your house as well.
The trick here is not to get carried away because you could end up spending too much. Avoid expensive, flashy, and unnecessary home improvement projects as you may spend more than you’ll make. Your real estate agent should advise you about the best possible improvements for your area and you can check out some more tips for selling your house.
Utilize This Ultimate Home-Selling Checklist
There you have it! This home-selling checklist includes some of the most important things you need to do before selling your home. They will increase the chances of selling your home fast for the ideal price.
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