Six Tips to Sell Your Houston Home in No Time
Has your house has been on the market for months with little to no promising offers? Have you bought a new house and ready to move out of the current one? Either way, you want to sell your house as quickly as possible.
While you could sit around waiting for the perfect buyer to come along and give you an offer above your asking price, why don’t you just take matters into your own hands? My top 6 tips will help you sell your home in no time.
1. Make a great first impression
You can spend all the time in the world sprucing up the inside of your home, but no one will ever see it if your house’s curb appeal sends them running the other way. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. Take a drive around your favorite neighborhood, your future neighborhood, or your aspirational neighborhood and admire the houses.
When you get home, look at your house with fresh eyes. How does it compare to those you just saw? Really look at it to see where it can improve. Does it look appealing and well-kept? Or, does it need a power washing, fresh flowers, and some weed removal?
When you’re trying to sell, it’s imperative that your lawn stays freshly cut and your flowerbeds and hedges are nicely groomed. Take the time to be sure your siding, windows, porch and driveway are clean.
Don’t wait! Jump on the task this weekend if you can do it yourself. If you need to hire a professional and the costs concern you, then think of how much money you’re losing when your house sits on the market for months.
Curb appeal can make or break a deal. It attracts buyers and marks your house a notch above the others.
2. Get real about the price
People often mistakenly believe the asking price should be set high and then lower it later if it doesn’t sell. How’s that going for you?
The best activity you’ll see happens within the first thirty days of listing your house. If your asking price is too high, buyers and agents will stay clear. They’ll think it’s over-priced, you’re not serious about selling, or you’re unwilling to negotiate.
On the other hand, pricing too low will leave money on the table.
Too often, people think they’ll save money if they don’t hire a real estate agent. But, a good one will save you both money and time. An agent will be able to price it perfectly – they’ll know the local market and comparable properties and current trends.
3. Declutter – the right way
Shoving everything into the closets is the worst way to declutter your home before a showing. Anyone interested in buying your home is going to open every single storage space and see every single skeleton – and all your other Halloween decorations. Seeing disorganized, overstuffed closets will not only prevent the buyer from seeing the whole space, it will subtly make them form opinions that you and your home are lacking.
Instead, rent a storage unit to hold all the items you won’t need while trying to sell your house. You should get a unit large enough to hold one-third of your house’s contents. Yep. A third. If you don’t use it every day, store it.
Clearing your home of seasonal items, unused baby gear and that god-awful painting your mother-in-law gave you for your birthday will help your home seem open, inviting, and manageable.
4. Make sure beauty is on the inside
Whether you hire a professional stager or just watch a lot of Fixer Upper, you’ll need to stage your home to highlight its strengths and soften its flaws. If the first thing a buyer sees is the listing photos online, what will they think about your space?
Is it dark, cluttered, (See tip #3) and poorly managed? Or, is it feng shui-ed in all the right places? You’ll want to create a soothing environment that allows people to envision themselves there. That means depersonalizing. A lot.
Open the curtains, paint over vibrant colors with neutral light gray, put the family photos and quirky décor in the storage unit, and roll up the area rugs. Think of your home as an inviting canvas that any and every potential buyer can paint their lives on.
5. Go through your “honey do” list
While a full-scale remodel is unnecessary (contrary to popular belief, dropping $30,000 on a renovation does not automatically increase your home’s value by $30,000), small improvements here and there can make all the difference.
Replace the leaky faucet, update the electrical system, fix the roof, modernize outdated fixtures. (Again, there’s no need to replace all of your kitchen appliances. But, if your hot water heater, door frames, or air vents could use a refresh, do it.)
Most people make an offer based on the home inspection, so be sure to fix any items that would be a red flag to an inspector or mortgage company. Otherwise, you risk losing any and all potential buyers when the inspection report comes back.
6. Above all, get the right real estate agent
How do you know who’s right for you? The perfect agent will know what can make or break a sale in Houston. Hire one that knows the local trends, the market, the neighborhoods, and the community. What’s important to buyers can change from neighborhood to neighborhood. Popular features in West U will be different from EaDo.
The right agent will hire the best property photographers in Houston to take the most attractive pictures of a space. Most home buyers start looking for a property online or in local magazines – in both cases, excellent photography is key. Your right photographer will know how to maximize light and space for artful marketing images.
Your right agent will know the best time to sell. Historically, spring is the most popular home-buying season. But, that doesn’t mean spring is best for all buyers or neighborhoods for that matter.
Contact me to learn how I can help your home sell as fast as possible.
