The process of selling a house isn’t exactly simple. To ensure a smooth and successful transaction, it’s important to lay the groundwork and do your due diligence on the front end. Indeed, there are a number of steps to take before you can get your home listed and sold… and here are just a few of them.
The Process of Selling a House: 7 Key Steps
- Decide how you’re going to get the house sold. Don’t assume that the best way to proceed is to work with a traditional real estate agent. Depending on your goals, your timeline, and the state of your property, it may make more sense to sell the place yourself; to sell to an i-buyer; to work with a discount agent, or even a flat-fee broker. The route you choose can impact all the other decisions you make in the home selling process, and we’d recommend claiming your SOLD.com seller’s report to ensure you choose wisely.
- Improve your home’s curb appeal. In real estate, first impressions are a big deal. You’ll want to wow buyers as soon as they arrive at your home, even before they set foot inside. As such, you’ll want to be honest with yourself about the state of your curb appeal. Do you need a new front door? A fresh coat of paint? Updated landscaping? A few minor repairs to the exterior of your property? Before you list, get the house looking its best.
- Declutter. Decluttering is always at the top of our list of house selling tips. Simply put, you want to make your space look as neat and as tidy and as roomy as can be, and that means minimizing all your extra stuff. Some sellers actually benefit from renting an external storage unit while they get their home sold.
- Depersonalize. When selling, you want to make your house feel like a blank slate. You want to make it easy for buyers to imagine themselves living there and creating a new life for their family. That’s a little harder to do if the whole place feels like it’s set up for your family. As such, we’d typically recommend that you minimize family photos, personal knickknacks, etc.
- Go neutral. Another important step in the process of selling your house is honestly evaluating the quality of your interior paint job. It’s not just the quality that matters, but the color, too; before listing, it’s important to seek hues that are fairly neutral. If you have any bright or unusual color choices in your home, it’s worth the time it takes to turn them into something closer to white or beige.
- Conduct a smell test. Imagine: You walk into a home and the first thing you’re hit with is a strange or off-putting odor. That can pretty much ruin your first impression of the place. So, when it comes to impressing potential buyers, it’s important to think not just about how your house looks but also how it smells. Note that you may have “smell blindness,” simply because you’re used to living in the home, so invite a friend or neighbor to come over, sniff around, and tell you the truth.
- Do a deep clean. As you declutter and as you look for ways to deodorize, we’d also recommend giving your home a good, thorough cleaning. Simply put, dirty homes look like they haven’t been taken care of. You want to assure buyers that your home has been properly maintained, and that means cleaning from top to bottom. Hiring a professional cleaning service is often a wise investment here.
More House Selling Tips
As you can tell, there’s plenty of work to be done as you get your property ready to list, and the important starting point is deciding how you’re going to sell it.
That’s where your SOLD.com seller’s report comes in handy. In it, you’ll get a personalized recommendation for how to list, based on your real estate needs and goals.
We encourage you to seek out this independent, unbiased advice today. Get personalized house selling recommendations by claiming a free SOLD.com seller’s report at your next convenience.
