Selling your home might be time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. The time it takes to sell the average home is 68 days, and with a lengthy process like that, you’ll probably want to know what to expect. Selling a home involves a lot of steps, and you want to make sure you get everything right the first time.
In this guide, we’ll give the full checklist so you can sell your house with ease. There are some common home-selling steps you’ll need to take to prepare your home for the market and to bring you closer to finding the perfect buyer. Here’s the checklist you’ve been waiting for!
1. Prepare Your Home
Before you put your home on the market, you need to do your homework. A lot of first-time home sellers are quick to jump into the sale process without thinking through everything clearly. The more preparation you do at this stage, the simpler the process will be.
Learn About Your Market
First, you need to get familiar with your local market. This will help you know how your home stands against other homes in the area, how much interest is there in real estate investing. Look into just how much other homes that are similar to yours have sold for. Keep checking with these listings regularly to learn more about your own home value.
Budget Your Costs
Next, start budgeting. While we usually only think about budgeting with buying a home, the same goes with selling a home. You’ll need to add up all transaction costs and your remaining equity. Consider any expenses that might come your way, including property taxes, title insurance fees, and more. While many of these might be covered by the buyer, it’s good to prepare yourself either way.
Gather Your Documents
Finally, your last preparation step is to gather all of your important documents. You don’t want to be scrambling to find anything when things start moving faster. You’ll need your home title, mortgage, and insurance.
2. Take Care of Your Home
Now you’ll need to take care of your home as if you were a buyer. What would you want to see in your home if you were looking to buy? Take a critical look at your home projects to decide what needs to be done before you list your home.
Improve Your Home’s Cosmetics
One easy thing to do is to take care of any of your home’s cosmetic needs. Fresh coats of paint, fixtures, and more are easy improvements that make your home look better to buyers.
Make Any Big Repairs
If there are big repairs you’ve been putting off, now’s the time to handle them. Most homeowners spend an average of 1% of the home value on repairs a year, so now is the time to get those taken care of to increase your home’s value.
Clean Your Home
Last but not least, clean your home. You want everything to look perfect, clean, and organized when you list your home. You’ll have agents and prospective buyers filtering through your property so it should look like it’s been well maintained.
3. List Your Home
No matter the location of the house you’re selling, you’ll need to have a way to get the word out about your home sale. From working with a real estate agent to DIY listings, make sure you have your bases covered.
List Your Home Online
Most people find homes online, so ensure your home is listed through multiple listing services (MLSs). A real estate agent can be a huge help during this process.
Arrange Your Open Houses
Hosting an open house is a great way to encourage people to visit your property. It also shows your home to local agents who might know of the perfect buyer. This is how you build excitement about your home.
Sell Your Home with Ease
There you have it! This checklist will set you up for success when selling your home. From fixing up your property to preparing to close on the sale, every step matters.
As with most things in life, preparation is key. The more prepared you are to sell your home quickly, the better equipped you’ll be for everything that comes your way. Are you ready to sell your home?
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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