If you’re selling a home for the first time, the anxiety can be very similar to buying a first home, but the experience is entirely different. Right from prepping your home for sale, deciding on the price to accepting or rejecting the offers – you’d be in complete control of the process. But, unfortunately, not many first-time home sellers have any idea where or how to start the home selling process.
Here are our recommended tips for first-time home sellers to make the whole process much smoother and get the home sold much quicker:
- Know your local real estate market to figure out the best time to sell.
Firstly, you need to understand the state of your local real estate market. Are you in the buyer or seller’s market? Knowing the type of market you are in currently will help you identify the best time to sell your home. If you are currently in the buyer’s market, you can consider waiting for the seller’s market, which occurs when more buyers look for homes than there are homes available. A seller’s market will give you the negotiation power and the opportunity to drive up your home price.
- Inspect your home as if you are buying it.
Do you remember how you inspected each home when you were house shopping? It’s time to go through the same process again. Take a long hard look at your home. Be honest with yourself about the condition of your home and get things updated or fixed before you invite buyers to look at your place.
Ensure that all appliances and systems are functioning properly. Make a few low-budget home improvements like putting on a fresh coat of paint on the walls, replacing outdated light fixtures, and professional cleaning of floors and carpets.
- Hire a top real estate agent.
Selling a home is a complex process, so don’t attempt to sell it on your own. According to the National Association of Realtors, only less than 10% of homes are successfully sold by owners without the help of an agent. This means that real estate agents do 90% of home sales. So, find an agent with a good track record to sell your home.
- Prepare your home for the market.
Even with your home cleaned and fixed, it’s not show-ready if it still has things that reflect your personality. If homebuyers walk into your home, they should be able to envision themselves staying there. So, consider staging your home to boost its selling power and appeal.
Traditional home staging can be an expensive process as it involves decluttering, arranging your furniture, organizing, and decorating your home in a way that appeals to the widest range of potential buyers. If you don’t want to invest huge amounts of money on traditional home staging, consider virtual staging – a powerful and cost-effective alternative to traditional home staging.
Sewer pipeline blockage or even a damaged sewer pipeline can be a major issue when you want to sell your house. Pipe bursting is a trenchless pipe repair method used for replacing buried pipelines without the need for a traditional construction trench that involves digging up the entire landscaping around your home or business. Or to avoid the damage that would be caused by digging up the foundation around the property.
- Get the price correct.
Determining the right listing price is challenging, but it’s one of the most important factors in a successful home sale. Since first-time home sellers often do not know how to determine the listing price correctly, the real estate agent can help. Your real estate agent can carry out a detailed real estate market analysis of your area to determine the right listing price of your home.
- Hire a professional real estate photographer.
With most home buyers searching for homes online, your home’s online listing should be able to make the best first impression. Professional real estate photos that are realistic and high quality go a long way toward making your home stand out. So, hire a professional real estate photographer. You can also make your listing more engaging by including a 3D virtual tour of your property.
- Know what your closing expenses are.
Home sellers are traditionally responsible for certain closing expenses, with brokerage fees being the biggest but negotiable expense. Other home selling expenses include the cost of an instrument survey, transfer taxes, re-dating of an abstract, and also the possibility of a seller concession. First-time home seller should be aware of these expenses to avoid last-minute surprises.
