Three Savvy Strategies to Selling Your Home

Today's market is more of a buyer's market, meaning that there are more homes for sale right now than there are buyers.  Homes typically take longer to sell and prices can fall.  If you want to make sure that your home sells faster and for a higher list-to-sell percentage, then follow these steps:

1. Prepare the property to sell.  
• Consider a prelist home inspection to address any possible issues before your house goes on the market and take care of any repairs that may be needed.  This will eliminate any surprises later on.  
• Upgrades always attract buyers...the most common include flooring, paint, light fixtures, appliances, and plumbing hardware.
• On average, staged homes had 2 more showings and sold for a significantly higher list-to-sale percentage than homes that were not staged.  This is more true for homes at a higher listing price.  The most commonly staged rooms are the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom.
2. Price the property to sell.
• The top factors when pricing your home are recently sold comps, active comps, condition of home and your motivation.  Even price per square foot and age of the home can play a role.
• Listen to your Realtor's [my ;)] advice.  Sellers who followed Keller Williams associate's recommended price sold their homes 38 days faster.  This translates to a savings of $1101.31 for a seller who originally bought their $200,000 home with 20% down and an interest rate of 6.5%.
3. Present the property to buyers.
• Put yourself in the buyers' shoes.  Believe it or not, 90% of buyers report using the Internet as a tool to search for homes that were for sale.  And the buyers first impression are the pictures of your home.  Before the Realtor takes photos of your home for the listing, take some yourself of each room in your home.  How does your home look to you?  If you're not impressed, the buyers won't be either.  If you can't afford a stager, use the photos as a tool to see where your opportunities lie...clear out the clutter, dust, paint, etc.  Your agent can help you in this area as well.
• The top marketing tools we at Pickett Property Group use include: MLS, for sale signs, online placement (Trulia, Realtor.com, Craigslist to name a few), Open Houses, web listings with virtual tours, fliers, feedback forms, email, social media (our Blog, Twitter, Facebook), and QR codes.
• Improve your curb appeal.  Most buyers will drive by to view the home after seeing your listing online.  So your curb appeal needs to draw potential buyers to want to see the inside of your home as well.  Things like trimming bushes, adding fresh mulch or new landscaping, power-washing, washing windows, painting the exterior, updating door hardware, and even planting new sod can make a huge impact.

What does all of this mean for you?  By applying these 3 strategies, it could potentially translate into more money in your pocket at closing time.

When you're ready to sell your home, contact us for a professional, yet straight-forward presentation.  We put YOU first!