Selling a House

It is important to set out in writing the reasons that are motivating you to sell your current home. You might ask yourself, "Why am I selling my home and what do I expect to accomplish?" If you have a growing family and you need more space you may be under less pressure to get your house ready to sell than if you were, let's say, moving to a new city due to a career opportunity. Explore your short and long term goals and decide how selling your house fits into those goals. Doing this will help you to establish a time management path for selling your home. Your agent can save you time and money by applying their expert knowledge to your particular needs and setting a realistic time frame for the process to proceed. They can explore all of the variables within your individual goals and how best to achieve them in your local real estate market.

What are we going to do with this one?

When conversing with real estate agents, you will often find that when they talk to you about buying real estate, they will refer to your purchase as a "home." Yet if you are selling property, they will often refer to it as a "house." There is a reason for this. Buying real estate is often an emotional decision, but when selling real estate you need to remove emotion from the equation.

You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity. Property. Real estate. Your goal is to get others to see it as their potential home, not yours. If you do not consciously make this decision, you can inadvertently create a situation where it takes longer to sell your property.

The first step in getting your home ready to sell is to "de-personalize" it.

Home Seller, List your home on the MLS

10 Quick Tips for Home Sellers

With today's changing real estate market, home sellers need to take extra care preparing their home for a top-dollar sale. Home buyers have more houses to choose from and will select the home that stands out from the other houses they preview. These tips will help you attract a buyer:

1. Start at the Street. Pretend you are a prospective buyer seeing your home for the first time. What do you see from your car? Make your home so inviting buyers will get out of their comforting cars and walk to your front door. Place fresh seasonal flowers, in pots or planted, along the front walk or by your front door.

2. Make Repairs. Lubricate squeaky door hinges, fix dripping faucets, and make sure toilets flush properly. You get used to the minor faults in your home, so ask a friend to inspect for minor defects.

3. Exterminate. One bug or spider, dead or alive, can cause some buyers to leave immediately.

4. Remove Clutter. Not only does a neat, organized house feel larger and more inviting, clutter-free homes give prospective buyers a chance to see the home’s features.

5. Deep Clean. Remove dust, spiders, and odors.

6. Depersonalize. Pack your personal mementos and photographs. Give your buyers the opportunity to visualize their personal effects in your home.

7. Lighten Up. During the winter months, use bulbs with the highest wattage recommended in light fixtures. Add small table lamps for extra lighting. If you have room on your kitchen and bathroom countertops, a small decorative lamp adds a warm glow with a designer’s touch.

8. Wash Walls or Repaint. Fresh paint gives you the best return on your money.

9. Clean Carpets or Replace. You may be accustomed to the way your carpet looks, but what do buyers see? If you're selling to first-time home buyers, they most likely won't have the money beyond the down payment to pay for new carpeting. Move-up buyers expect perfection, even if they want to tear it all out.

10. Consider having your pets taken care of by family or friends. Some home buyers are allergic to pets, while others will be turned off by pet odors. You get accustomed to your pets’ odors, but these scents drive buyers away.

With a little thought and effort, you can persuade buyers that your house exceeds their expectations-- and is worth getting out of the car.

Are you painting your home? What to know what colors to use? Jeanette Fisher teaches home sellers five ways to sell homes for top dollar--Fast. For more information about the author of interior design and real estate books, visit http://www.jeanettefisher.com Get a free "Design Psychology for Selling Houses" ebook and more home seller's tips at http://sellfast.info

Home Seller

Selling a House

10 Quick Tips for Home Sellers

First Time Homebuyer

Home Seller