A and I met with two agents and listened to their entire marketing scheme. It was really interesting to see their techniques on selling a home and what they would price our house at. Sure they were close to a similar number but this number was pretty far off from our initial 3 offers when we listed the house. To be honest, their number was below our offers. Pretty crazy, right?! I'd say that's a good mistake to make.
There were two items that stood out the most to us with the agent we chose - they had great outlets to promote the house to and they provided a professional photographer to take photos of our house. The house was on the market for all of 5 days prior to receiving two offers and then we received another offer the following day. I hope I am not jinxing our situation too much as the house will not close until mid-April.
Again, we are living in a pretty decent market to sell a home but I wanted to share my tips to selling a home quick. This would be better named, how to quickly get offers on your house that's for sale since our house isn't 'sold' yet.
Shop for an agent
You don't have to chose the first agent you meet and you definitely to not have to work with the same agent that helped you purchase the house. Ask for their marketing plan and ask how they will list the house. Will they provide pamphlets for an open house and will they help with staging.
Use a professional photographer
This is without a doubt, 100% worth it. Most people are shopping for a house before they even see it in person - I call them window shoppers. They will browse all the sites, such as Zillow, Redfin, Realtor, Trulia, etc. and judge the house based on photos and description.
The photos on the left are those that the previous listing agent used for the sale of the home. The photos on the right are from the professional photographer for the listing of our home. Talk about spacious rooms that are bright.
Who would have thought that 1/4 acre lot could look so open and inviting?
It's a bummer that the house got listed prior to the bloom of our trees. But look at how large the deck looks on the right.
We definitely have a small kitchen but the kitchen on the left looks 5 times smaller than the one on the right.
Take care of your home
If you do at least the bare minimum it will really show well. Clean your furnace filter on schedule, pressure wash the outside of your home, clean up your landscaping, and repair/patch walls. A fresh coat of paint also makes the house look taken care of. I recommend neutral colors that are not offensive. Realtors will say that paint is an easy fix. Little do they know paint is expensive and requires a lot of work.
Stage your home or declutter
Make your home inviting all while allowing the buyer to picture their lives there. It is always nice to have personal memorabilia in your home to make it feel like home, but buyers do not care about your family. Less is more in this case and stick to the rule of 3's, like three little kittens that lost their mittens. This is a thing people. Look it up and your eye for decorating will forever change.
Now the true fact about how quickly your house will sell is solely based around location, price, and market. But the above guidelines can definitely help make a beauty of a listing. The appeal will likely draw in a large crowd for showings.
Have you sold a house? What do you recommend to get that house sold quickly?
