How to Sell your Home Fast
To sell your home fast, you have to take an active role in the process. There is, of course, an element of luck to selling a home fast, but if you’re doing everything right on your end, it’s only a matter of time before the right buyer comes along. On the flip side, if you’re failing to take the necessary steps to optimize your home for a fast sale, you may be turning off potential buyers who might have made an offer if things were different. Don’t sit back and wait for the buyer who can see past potential flaws. Do your homework, make fixes, and go out of your way to show just how great your property is.
Here are 10 tips to guide you through the process.
-
Choose your agent wisely
When I see a home that’s been sitting on the market for a while and has some obvious detractors, like Christmas lights still hanging up in March or an unkempt lawn, my first thought is always that the sellers deserve a better agent. You want to be working with a realtor who is as invested in selling your home as you are, which means someone who will tell you exactly what you’re doing wrong and how you can improve it – not someone who will just stick a lock box on your front door and help coordinate showings.
When you’re selecting an agent to work with, ask for referrals from people you trust and who have been through the process itself. And consider your particular needs. If your home could use some help with staging, find an agent who has experience in design. If you’re selling a fixer upper, find an agent who has a proven track record of selling those types of homes. You have a lot of options when it comes to agents, so choose one who is a fit for your specific situation.
-
Go on the market at the right time
The housing market ebbs and flows throughout the year on a pretty set schedule. While it’s not impossible to sell a home in November or December, you’re much more likely to have success in the spring, when more buyers are out looking. If you’re trying to sell a home quickly, your best bet is to list no earlier than late February so that you can take advantage of the heavy activity.
-
Get professional pictures taken
Photos are the very first thing a buyer will see of your home, and they can dictate whether they end up scheduling a showing or not. Good real estate photos should highlight the best features of your home, with every measure taken to make the space look as warm and inviting as possible. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and it’s not something you should trust to just anybody.
-
Price it right
Everybody wants to make as much money as possible off their home sale, but it’s important to be realistic. What you paid for the home matters significantly less than what the market is dictating at the time, particularly if your goal is to sell fast. While you don’t have to under-price your home for a quick sale, you do have to price it smartly. Use a home estimate tool to get a basic idea of what range you’re looking at, and then work with your realtor to come up with a starting number that makes the most sense in light of the market and your objectives.
-
Declutter
As soon as you know you’re going to list your home (and before pictures), get to work on clearing out clutter from your home. Rent a storage unit or find a family member willing to share some extra space in their home and box up everything that you won’t need in the near future. This includes out-of-season clothing, books, most of your décor, and pretty much anything that’s been sitting in the back of your closets and cabinets for a while. The less stuff you have cluttering your home, the more that buyers will be able to see the space itself, and not the items crowding it.
-
Depersonalize
Buyers need to be able to see themselves in the property, and they’re going to have a tough time doing that if they’re looking at your family photos. The sooner you can remove any items that personalize the home – photos, mail, personal papers, etc. – the better you can present a blank slate to the buyers who come through.
-
Stage your home
Decluttering and depersonalizing are part of the staging process, but not all of it. To sell quickly, your home needs to be decorated in a way that highlights its best assets. Achieving that can mean anything from rearranging your furniture to open up the space (and removing furniture that’s bulky or unnecessary), painting your walls with neutral colors, and repairing obvious imperfections. You’ll also want to be sure to get rid of anything that dates your house, like holiday decorations or a snow shovel leaning against the garage.
-
Be accommodating
The selling process can be a bit of a pain, especially when buyers start scheduling showings and you have to get out of the house. But it could be worse… you could have no buyers coming through at all! Make sure to say yes to every single showing request. Unless it’s truly impossible, rearrange your schedule around what’s ideal for the buyer, not what’s ideal for you. If you suggest a new time than what’s requested, the buyer or their agent may not be able to make it work and so may just pass on visiting the property entirely.
-
Set yourself apart
Potential buyers who came through your house must feel warm and welcome, so for every showing that came through, you can set out fresh cookies on the kitchen counter with a sign saying “help yourself.” It’s such a simple thing, but you can get a ton of positive feedback about it. A little extra step like that helps buyers remember your property, and also puts them in a good mood right off the bat. If you don’t want to put out baked goods, consider setting out water bottles or a basket of fruit. Regardless of what you choose to do, a tiny bit of extra effort will help you stand out from the competition.
-
Ask for feedback
Some buyers’ agents will contact your realtor after a showing to give feedback on the property – good or bad – but many don’t. You want to know exactly what you’re doing right and wrong though, so it’s important to get clear feedback from every single agent who comes through your door. Make sure your realtor is always following up with buyers’ agents to get their opinion on the property and finding out what buyers liked or didn’t like about what they saw. Then use that feedback to make changes as necessary.
The average home sells between 65-70 days, but it is absolutely possible to sell faster than that if you take the time to optimize each aspect of the process. While you can’t make a buyer materialize out of thin air, you can do everything in your power to make sure that when the right buyer does come along, they know immediately that they’ve found their perfect fit.
Want to sell your home fast?
If you want to sell your home fast in westport connecticut area and need some help, we’re here for you.
Ruspini Realty has over 15 years of experience in buying and selling homes in Fairfield County, New Haven County,
Litchfield County and adjacent areas.