How to sell my home fast
Here are my 7 tips for preparing for a fast home sale - from your home sales strategy to necessary home repairs that impact seller interest, I’ve covered the must-do bases for a fast-tracked experience.
Got an amazing opportunity and need to sell your home on a tight timeline? Selling a home is a gigantic undertaking, even if the home is small. If you’re a seller and you're on a truncated schedule with your sale - well, it’s critical that your plan is solid and the preparation is done expertly.
To keep on theme - here is a quick bulleted overview of my suggestions for a quick sale with more detail below:
Determine Your Selling Strategy
Clean and Declutter
Price Your Home To Sell
Make Quick Repairs
Curb Appeal, Create It!
Stagings, Photos, and Listing Description
Be Very Flexible With Showings
Get Ready For A Fast Home Sale
Dive a little deeper into my suggested process below.
Determine Your Selling Strategy
Do you want the support of an expert real estate agent or are you keen to sell on your own (FSBO = For Sale By Owner)? I’m happy to walk you through your options anytime - both have their perks, but if your need is for speed, well the support of an expert is likely your best bet.
There are some other ways to sell a home fast, but it really depends on the type of property you have. If you wanted to bypass the preparation it requires to sell a home - fast or slow - here are some quick ideas to mull over:
Find an investor interested in flipping your home.
If you have a teardown home and/or a large piece of land, consider selling to a developer.
If price isn’t a concern, sell your home at auction.
Clean and Declutter
Ok, you’ve got your selling plan in place. Now, put yourself in the shoes of the prospective buyer walking into a cluttery, dirty home. Would you be interested in hanging around there? Probably not - which doesn’t bode well for a quick sale.
Here is some guidance around cleaning and decluttering your home to make a quick sale more feasible:
If you have a lot of belongings, invest in a storage unit like PODS and pack away extra items or large pieces of furniture to free up space, making your rooms look nice and roomy.
Organize your closets. Buyers will snoop around and seeing storage space will oftentimes be a major bonus in your home’s favor.
Pack away personal belongings (put them in the storage unit). Buyers need to be able to picture themselves in the space and seeing you or your loves ones may distract them.
Do a deep clean of the entire home - consider hiring a professional to make sure it’s squeaky clean. Contact me if you’re in need of a reliable cleaning service provider.
Price Your Home To Sell
Even in a seller’s market, a quick sale is never guaranteed and one thing that can speed up the selling process is a competitive price tag. Get more people into your home - entice them with the price. Overpricing will more often than not lead to more time on the market, which is exactly what we’re hoping to avoid here as you’re not only on a fastrack, but historically, the longer your home is on the market, the lower your odds are of selling it at the listing price.
Some key tactics you can discuss with your realtor may be pricing a little lower than comparable homes in your community - this strategy could entice a bidding war, a tactic more successful in hot seller’s markets. Your realtor can provide you with information about how prospective buyers are shopping in your neighborhood and what their average search entails - from price to bedroom count, and what have you, so your listing and price are just right.
One additional consideration here: before your listing is live, I suggest you seriously consider your selling timeline with your realtor and make a plan of action should your home not receive offers in line with your schedule. From price reduction to sale incentives - like throwing in key home improvements with the sale - it’s best to have your plan organized before you get into the nitty gritty of the selling process.
Your expert realtor can help guide and support this entire process with you.
Make All Quick Repairs, It’s Worth It
Take care of the easy, quick DIY repairs. Personally, I have some handy home improvement skills, so should you need an assist, consider those skills as a perk of working with me as your realtor.
Here is a list of the simple repairs I suggest you focus on:
Clean dirty walls and patch paint where needed
Tighten any leaking faucets
Repair loose door knobs or cabinet handles. Replace any handles or knobs that have paint on them or other flaws
Fix loose tiles
Pending your timing and budget, these quick fixes are also really useful during the sale of a home:
Apply a fresh coat of paint throughout the entire home
Update light fixtures that may be outdated
Make sure your appliances work and match - it’s not a terrible idea to purchase a matching set in advance of selling
Install new hardware for your kitchen and bathroom cabinets
Complete unfinished projects (For example - are you missing a piece of trim in your guest room? Get that fixed.)
Protip!
If you know something isn’t working - like a heater on the fritz - plan to fix it before you list. It will likely come up at closing regardless, so handling it up front is helpful.
Photo / Theme Photos
Create Curb Appeal
Choosing your realtor is important, as are my others key steps, but for me, curb appeal is almost everything. Let’s face it - first impressions are critical!
Depending on the state of your yard, you will want to spend a weekend sprucing things up or simply hiring a gardener to help you out. Pull weeds, trim hedges, clear paths, and plant some inexpensive shrubs and annual flowers to make the home feel welcoming. Put a lovely flower pot out front or freshen up the hanging pot by the front door.
Outside of garden-centric fixes, look to make any minor fence repairs, replace broken lights or mailbox pieces, and consider a fresh coat of paint on the front door. Find out what your front door color says about your home in my Instagram Story Highlight!
In need of curb appeal ideas?
If you’d like some suggestions on how to prioritize your home’s curb appeal work - email me a photo of the front of your house and I’ll send you my thoughts.
Photo / Matt Chen
Staging, Magazine-Quality Photos, and Listing Description
Your expert realtor can help you with these three critical items, but here is the gist for those interested in the details:
Staging is a critical step to take especially for those looking to make a quicker sale. A professional staging job will make your space look fantastic. If you go this route, you’ll want all your items in storage so a professional company with their own furniture and decor can do what they do best, and highlight your home’s many great features. As a perk of working with me, I include the cost of staging your listing in my realtor fee.
Photography is key! Professional real estate photographers do a bang-up job showcasing your home in the best light, and as a quick seller - you want this. These photos cost a few hundred dollars and guess what - I also include this cost in my listing fee. Plus - when necessary, I have great partners for 3D home tours as well - also included in my fee.
Woo them with words! Your listing description is also an important component of your selling strategy. Your expert realtor can prepare this for you, highlighting your home and neighborhood’s best features.
Be Very Flexible With Showings
Alright, the home is ready to be listed and to be seen. As a seller, you want to be as accommodating as possible, which makes this final step one of the hardest, especially for those still living in the home while it’s on the market.
Here is a quick checklist for how to keep you home show-ready every day until it’s sold:
Make all the beds every day.
Take the trash out often.
Keep tidy - putting everything away as you move through your day.
Wash laundry regularly, keeping dirty clothes stored away.
Have a plan for where you (and the kids, if that’s your situation) will go at all times throughout the days and especially the weekends.
You got this, friends! And, if you need any help - as your realtor, I’m there for you, just give me a call.