What can I do to sell my home fast?

 

We are hurried people and the same holds true with many homeowners when they’re thinking about selling their home.  We have transformed ourselves into a hurried people society.  We never seem to have enough hours in the day, we’re in a hurry, we want it done now! How about the sign that reads; antiques made while you wait or better yet, how about the sign that reads; ears pierced while you wait; well of course –  what would the alternative be to not waiting, while you had  your ears pierced?! Drop them off and come back later?!  Hurry, hurry, hurry. Well, the good news is that you can sell your home fast if you follow some steadfast guidelines. If you are determined to sell your home fast, I can tell you how to do it. Sell my home fast – keep reading!

 

Before we even begin to discuss just how to do it, understand that there are no shortcuts, as I know, you’re in a hurry! How you answer the questions below will set the way of how fast your home will sell.

What is your motivation or urgency to sell?

 

Having a motivation to sell your home, hammers a sense of urgency into a homeowner. Do you have this motivation to sell? Perhaps one of the scenarios applies to you:

• Relocation – are you relocating out of town for a new career position that you were just offered? Or do you need to move to take care of a loved one that’s in need of your help? There are likely a number of reasons why you might be relocating, forcing you to sell your home.

 

• Life event; marriage, baby, divorce, illness – life is full of delightful planned events and then there are also the storms of life that can turn our lives upside down. Are you wanting to sell for a life event?  If so, you likely have a greater sense of urgency to get your home sold.

 

• Upsize, downsize or better location – If you’re young and on your way up in the world, you’ve probably been scoping out larger homes to move into or perhaps you’ve been single and a life event, described above, demands more room for a growing family; a spouse and/or babies on the way! Or you could have already raised your family, the kids are grown, and you’re looking to downsize to a more manageable space; who needs 5 bedrooms now? The less to keep clean, the better! Perhaps, it’s a different location that you seek; out to the suburbs or closer to the city.

 

Without a motivation to sell your home, can you still be on board to do what’s necessary to sell your home fast? Well that depends … can you take the advice of an experienced Realtor who can guide you on the home selling process? If you’re more concerned in following your own lead, then you’ll likely have difficulty in selling your home fast. Listen to your knowledgeable, local Realtor professional and you too can sell your home fast, even though you aren’t pressed to do so; you have an added luxury of time.

 

As reported by Keller Williams research, roughly 58% of homeowners have some urgency to sell their home. Those that are really in urgent need of selling their homes amounts to 14%.  Where do you fit?

 

Now that we’ve discussed your real motivation to sell your home, let’s discuss what else will matter on how fast you can sell your home.

Have you prepared to sell your home?

 

Preparing to sell your home will always be one of the most critical steps that you can take towards completing a fast sale. If time is not on your side due to perhaps a life event emergency, then this may be difficult for you to accomplish.  However, whenever you can, plan to make the proper home selling preparations so you’ll be able to reap the benefits in selling your home for top dollar.  It’s important to understand that when you don’t prepare, your home’s ultimate selling price will reflect the lack of preparation. This lack of preparation can be detrimental to a maximum selling price and it will likely result in your home selling for less than market value. This selling price difference will be greater than what the cost would have been to properly prepare your home.  So by all means, make the preparations, as you’ll be glad you did.

 

What will the preparations include?

 

• Cleaning; squeaky clean everything from top to bottom, so your home sparkles like a diamond, smells like a rose garden and lights up like the sun.

• Repair those little things that you’ve been meaning to fix. We all have them in our homes that we’ve putting off for a rainy day.

• Unclutter. Remove those things you’re not using. Remove those unsightly things. This enables the Buyer to envision their things that they feel are useful and beautiful.

• Remember it’s all about the details.

How is your home priced?

 

It’s going to be all about how you prepared to get your home ready to sell, as discussed above, in order to establish how your home will be priced and and at what price point when selling fast is in your plans. The selling price of your home and it’s price point will either set you apart from your competition or nestle you amongst your competition, as long as your home stands out.  (Below we go into further detail about your competition.) How you decide to price your home when it first hits the local Real Estate market for sale, can make a huge difference in how quickly you will attract prospective Buyers to your home and how quickly those Buyers will submit an offer to buy your home. In fact, your initial price can even attract many Buyers.  Wouldn’t it be great to sell your home fast having a selection of attractive offers in which to choose from?! I’m sure I know your answer.

Who is your competition?

 

Your competition will play a large role in how fast your home sells. What neighbors have their homes up for sale? How do they compare to your home?  And how you settle in or stand out from them can make all the difference in the world in how fast you sell your home.  You’ll want to knock out the competition.

 

Buyers will be searching for homes that match their wants and needs. To begin with, they’ll be searching for homes within a particular price range, as this is what they know they can afford. They’ll seek out certain features such as bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, home style, finishes, age, functionality and location of home, to name a few.  The Buyers are going to be comparing these features of all the homes that are currently for sale and how these features compare to your home.  This is the time, where setting aside your emotional attachment to your home can really benefit your ultimate list price, as your home needs to be valued according to the particulars that I’ve mentioned above. Know that it must be an apples to apples comparison and not a Mansion to Shack comparison.  I know that one’s man Shack can be another man’s Mansion, but for the principals of home selling we have to look at actual fair market values of the Mansion or Shack and not emotionally felt values. Sometimes, homeowners feel they live in a Mansion when in reality it is not. Granted, my example is extreme, yet it makes my point of comparison to be better understood.

 

How will your home be marketed to Buyers?

 

Plop a “for sale sign” in your front yard and that will do it, as you watch Buyers flock to your home! If only it was that easy.  It is so much more than a yard sign. Did you know that over 90% of Home Buyers begin their home search online over the internet? That’s huge – 90%!  How can we get your home to be seen by that 90%? It will begin with savvy marketing skills by your hired Realtor. Your home must be found by Buyers if you want to get it sold fast.

 

Sure everyone states that they have the best marketing for selling homes, but do they really? When you hire a Realtor to sell your home, you’ll want to find out about their marketing abilities. In particular, how do they market themselves?  If they’re going to have any luck in marketing your home, they’d better be pretty good at shouting from the rooftops about themselves.  How can you find this out if they’re any good at marketing themselves?  Go to Google and type in the Realtor’s name.  What do you see? Do you see their name repeatedly running down the screen page before your eyes? Do you see pages of their sites where they contribute to that pop out? If you’re seeing this, you’ve likely stumbled upon a Realtor who is skilled at marketing and knowledgeable in the importance of SEO (search engine optimization) and how it works to get themselves found as a trusted Real Estate professional; more importantly skilled at getting their Seller’s homes found.

 

Now that you’ve determined that your Realtor knows about online marketing, what do they do to make homes stand out from the competition I described above? What about the home’s online presentation through the use of photos and video. Be sure that their  presentations are high quality that include crisp, brightly lit images within the photos and videos. Could you almost imagine walking through the home they present simply by viewing the photos and videos?  Their marketing should be as if they having to sell homes to international Buyers who purchase homes overseas, without physically viewing them in person; it must be that good. This type of quality home presentation will draw in a prospective Buyer to want to find out more about your home and the more they discover about your home, the greater the chances are that they could end up buying your home.

 

So if you’re able to master these areas of motivation, preparedness, price and marketing, your chance for achieving a quick sale will likely follow suit.

 

Perhaps you have other questions about selling a home – call me now, Lynn Pineda, your Southeast Florida Realtor working hard for customers in Broward and Palm Beach counties, at 954-464-1100 or email at LynnP@ImagineYourHouse.com

Real Estate Article, What can I do to sell my home fast? written by South Florida Realtor, Lynn Pineda. Keller Williams Coral Springs Realty. June 26, 2014. Real Estate Promises Delivered.