Every home seller’s dream is to sell quickly and sell at a good price. However, finding a buyer for your house can be a long and painstaking process, especially for first-time sellers. If your house stays for long on the market, its price will eventually reduce, thus eroding your profit margin. No seller wants to go through such a frustrating scenario. With that said, if you are looking to make a sale, it’s important for you to learn how to sell your house fast. So, what can you do to attract more buyers and close a deal fast?
Here are 11 tips to maximize the odds of selling your house swiftly:
1. Hire an Experienced Real Estate Agent
When it’s your first time having a property for sale, you are bound to make some mistakes when you try to do it all by yourself. An experienced real estate agent will effectively move you through all the processes involved in selling your home quickly. The agent will recommend home selling tips, including how to properly list your house, home staging tips, and tips for marketing a home for sale. Their experience and expertise can potentially save you days on the market and thousands of dollars. Interview a few real estate agents to find one who has a good track record of house sales and has a good understanding of the local housing market.
2. Price the House Right
When it comes to how to sell your house fast, pricing is the most important factor. Although not the only determining factor, having an appealing initial list price is the best way to sell your house fast. Regardless of how attractive your house is, it is still important to have a competitive and realistic price. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you sell your house at the lowest price, especially if you have made significant improvements. You shouldn’t overprice your house either, otherwise, homebuyers may simply ignore it. You need to find a price that will make your house enticing to potential buyers while still giving you a comfortable profit.
You can find the ideal price for your house through property valuation. Research to find the prices of comparable houses in the local real estate market. This will help you to know the fair market value of your house, which will be a good starting point to set your own ideal price. You may need to price your house a little lower than other similar properties in the area to achieve a quick sale. A real estate agent can help you conduct this comparative market analysis. However, the easiest and fastest way is to find real estate comps using Mashvisor’s Investment Property Calculator.
Related: Determine Property Value Following These 3 Methods
3. Declutter Spaces
Decluttering is also crucial when you’re attempting to sell your house quickly. Clutter makes the house look smaller and distracts prospective buyers from seeing the good features of our house. A mess in the house can also signal to potential buyers that you are not ready for a quick close. To sell your house fast, make sure all unnecessary belongings are stored in a specific storage area before showing it to potential buyers. Also, remove excess furniture and use smaller furniture to make the rooms look bigger.
4. List Your House
To make your house sell fast, it needs to be visible to as many people as possible. There are many real estate websites where you can list your house. However, make sure you are using the right real estate listing website. One of the best places you can list your house for free is on the Mashvisor Property Marketplace. Here, your property will be viewed by thousands of real estate investors and help you get a quick sale. Ensure that your real estate listing has quality professional photos, detailed descriptions, and your contact information.
Related: Can You Sell a House Without Listing It?
5. Spread the Word
Apart from having a strong online presence, you can also increase the chance of selling your house fast by using your already established relationships. Talk to your neighbors, family, and friends and inform them that your house is for sale and invite them to your open house. Chances are that they know people who are looking to buy a house. At the very least, if they know your house is for sale, they can become a pseudo marketing team. Be sure to also share your listing on social media. All these can expedite the marketing process and result in a quick sale.
6. Sweeten the Deal
One of the most important tips for selling your house fast is offering terms that might sweeten the deal. For instance, you can offer a bonus to the first real estate agent to bring you a full price offer. You can also offer to pay part of or all the closing costs for a buyer. Since buyers are usually looking for the best real estate deal, offering bonuses can make them feel like they are getting one. You can also offer a transferable home warranty for a one-year policy to cover failure by house systems and appliances. This could make your house more attractive than competing homes. There are many ways you can offer bonuses to buyers and agents. Be creative.
7. Improve Curb Appeal
As a home seller, you should never overlook the importance of your home’s curb appeal. The first thing a home buyer sees is the external appearance of your house and how it fits into the surrounding neighborhood. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Therefore, make sure that the exterior of the house is appealing at first glance.
Here are a few simple ways to boost curb appeal:
- Repaint the front door
- Landscaping
- New mailbox
- Tidy up flower beds
- Trim bushes and trees
- Plant colorful flowers
Related: Selling a Property? 7 Easy Ways to Add Curb Appeal to Your Listing
8. Make Small Upgrades to the House
It’s crucial that your house is in “move-in” condition when potential customers come to view it. They should have the impression that they can immediately move in and enjoy their new home. They shouldn’t feel that they need more time and money to fix things up. Ensure all appliances and fixtures in the real estate property are in working order. If your house is in poor condition, potential buyers are likely to be turned off. Anything in your house that is noticeable to potential buyers and can result in instant dislike should be fixed before presentation, so long as it isn’t too expensive.
Even if you don’t have the money or time to fix everything that is broken or outdated, you can still make some upgrades in areas that are most crucial to home buyers like the kitchen and bathrooms. Walk around your house and make a list of things that need to be polished or replaced. Focus on small, inexpensive property improvements and upgrades that can wow potential buyers. This will improve the aesthetics and value of the house.
Some of the small upgrades you can do to your house include:
- Repainting
- Replacing doorknobs
- Upgrading old light fixtures
- Replacing old curtains
- Changing old stained carpets
- Putting new flooring
9. Deep Clean
If you are thinking of how to make your house sell fast, this is an area you should never ignore. Nothing turns off home buyers like a dirty and smelly house. If your house looks, smells, or feels dirty, you are likely to get fewer offers. So, make sure you have thoroughly cleaned all the rooms in the house. Clean the cabinetry, kitchen countertops, shelves, floors, carpets, windows, basement, toilets, bathrooms, etc. If you can’t deep clean yourself, hire a cleaning company to do it for you.
10. Depersonalize the House
People have different tastes and styles. Your taste may not be the same as that of the person who will buy your house. When selling your house, removing personal items can help to attract more buyers. This is because it allows them to envision themselves in the home. A home purchase is usually an emotional process for many people and having your personal items in the house can get in the way of them picturing themselves in the house. Therefore, remove all family photos, religious or political items, your children’s artwork and toys, and other family collections. You can replace family photos with neutral art or remove them entirely.
11. Be Accessible
Property buyers usually want to see houses on their own schedule. Though this is often in the evenings and on weekends, there are those who would want to tour the house at other times during the week. If it is a hot market and you are selling to real estate investors, they may want to view the house as soon as they see it online since they will be competing with other buyers. This means that you or your agent needs to be consistently available when they need you for showings or answering questions. If you can attend to buyers with little or no notice, it will be seen by more potential buyers. If you require a notice of 24 hours or more, some prospective buyers may choose to skip your home altogether.
The Bottom Line
If you are in a hurry to sell your house, following the above tips will effectively help in streamlining your house sale and shortening the time between property listing and actually selling your house. Knowing how to sell your house fast means that your house will have fewer days on the market and is likely to sell at a good price. Moreover, a quick sale will allow you to move on with your life sooner.