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Home Seller Checklist: 7 Key Tips for Selling Your Home Fast

February 26, 2020

You’re ready to move, but do you know how to sell your home fast?

Having a home seller checklist of things that make your home sell fast can guide you as you prep to list your home.

The goal is to make your house as appealing as possible to potential buyers without investing a lot of money in the upgrades. You won’t likely get your money back if you spend too much on preparing your home for the market.

Consider these seven tips for selling your home quickly.

1. Declutter and Pack Up

If you still live in your home, it’s normal to have clutter and personal items lying around.

But that type of clutter doesn’t show well. It can make your house look messy.

Lots of things sitting around also makes the space feel smaller. No buyer wants to choose a house that feels cramped.

Your personal items can hurt you in another way. They make it tough for buyers to see themselves in the home. There’s too much of you still there.

Do the biggest decluttering you’ve ever done before you put your house on the market. Toss or donate things you don’t plan to keep after the move.

Pack up as much as possible and move it to another location. That might mean renting a storage unit for now.

Having fewer things in your home gives the illusion of more space. If you only have your closet half full of clothes, it makes the closets seem more spacious.

If you only have a few pieces of furniture in the living room, it gives a larger, airier look.

Once you’ve removed the extra stuff, do a deep cleaning in all rooms. This includes cleaning your carpets baseboards, cabinets, and other areas that don’t get cleaned often.

If you don’t have time to deep clean yourself, consider hiring a cleaning service. The service gets in and out quickly, so your home is ready for the market.

2. Stage Your Home

Staging can also be beneficial in selling your home quickly. You can hire a professional stager or do the work yourself.

Staging simply means to position furniture and other items in a way that improves the look of the space.

A stager might rearrange furniture to improve the flow or make the room look larger. Staging can also help define the space better, which can be helpful in an open floor plan.

Professional stagers often use their own furniture and simple decor pieces to create a polished look. This can allow you to put your furniture in storage and get it out of the way while you’re selling your home.

3. Spruce Up the Exterior

You need a killer first impression when a prospective buyer walks up to your home. Cleaning up your landscaping is the perfect way to do that.

Making your house stand out with pretty landscaping or highlighting unique architectural features can make it appealing. Just make sure it doesn’t stand out as being too different from the rest of the neighborhood. Sticking out can be a negative factor.

The work you do depends on the current state of your exterior. You might just need to clean up the landscaping and tidy up your outdoor space.

Or your home might benefit from a little extra work, such as power washing the siding and adding new landscaping.

If you invest too much in the exterior renovation, you won’t get your money back. Balance the cost of the projects with how much it’ll benefit your sale price.

4. Make Easy Interior Fixes

Inside fixes can also help speed up your home sale. The more move-in ready you make your home, the more appealing it is to buyers, who often don’t want to do any work.

Just like landscaping fixes, your inside fixes should be cost-effective. If you pour thousands of dollars into improving your home right before you move, you won’t likely get that money back in the sale.

Focus on repairs to get things in good working order. Fix broken appliances or damaged drywall, for example.

Simple cosmetic updates can also help. You might paint over a bold colored room with a versatile neutral color to make it more broadly appealing.

5. Be Flexible

Even in a seller’s market, you want to make buying your home as appealing as possible to prospects.
Being flexible, especially with home showings, can increase your prospects.

Keeping your house clean and ready to show at all times makes it easier to accommodate last-minute showings. If someone wants to see your home quickly, that’s a good sign that they’re highly interested.

Get them in as quickly as possible by being flexible with your showing availability.

6. Ensure Proper Pricing

Your pricing needs to work with the condition of your home and the comparable properties in your neighborhood. If you’re priced too high, you’ll scare off potential buyers from even looking at your property.

Pricing your home right doesn’t mean being the cheapest home for sale in your neighborhood. If your house has unique features that make it worth more than a neighbor’s house, you should set the price higher.

The problem happens when a seller is emotionally attached to a home and wants more than its worth.
If you’re working with a real estate agent, they can help you set your price based on a market analysis of comparable homes.

7. Consider a Cash Buyer

One of the fastest ways to sell your home is to a cash buyer. You’ll often see advertisements saying We Buy Any House from these types of buyers.

With this option, you don’t have to worry about getting your home ready for the sale. Most cash buyers purchase homes as-is. They don’t care if it looks pretty or if it has some issues.

This option can be beneficial if your home needs more work than you want to do. It’s also useful if you need to sell fast. The sale can often be completed in days unlike traditional sales methods, which can take weeks or months to complete.

Follow Our Home Seller Checklist

With a home seller checklist in hand, you can prepare your home quickly and effectively for a quick sale. Exploring your options, making strategic upgrades, and making your home as appealing as possible can help you sell faster.

Visit our home decor section for more decorating ideas that can help spruce up your home before you sell it.

Home Seller Checklist: 7 Key Tips for Selling Your Home Fast was last modified: by

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