House 4 Sale

Recently, I read a request asking what advice people would give on selling a house. There were two perspectives I thought about while thinking how to answer. Is this a house to rehabilitate or was this a personal house? Due to the format of the forums, I did not ask the questioner to elaborate. I do feel like I should go into more detail on the topic, and I will be answering it as if this is a personal house and one is trying to sell it.

Selling a house means knowing the market. A lot of time this is part of the job of the real-estate agent. Everyone should make the most efficient use of their resources as possible - this includes the real-estate agent. Find out what the comparables are for your house within the last six months. Be somewhat strict on what is considered a comparable. Within a couple hundred square feet, same floors, bathrooms, bedrooms, has sold, etc. When selling a house make sure you are comparing apples to apples.  Get in the mindset that you are going to sell the house. And look at the house from a buyer's view point. By this I mean, maximize everything possible in the house.

Most home owners have too much furniture in the house.  Rent a storage unit, put it at a friends house, just minimize the space taken up in the rooms.  You want them to appear as large as possible and clutter rooms look smaller.  Pack your books up, and get the bookcases out with other furniture.  Move furniture around to make clean-crisp walking paths.  Organize cupboards, end tables, night stands, closets, medicine cabinets, closets, etc.  People love to snoop while they are looking at a house.  This is a small detail that will add organization to the buyers mind.  Overall, de-clutter and organize.

Make your house more general.  One key to remember is that a buyer wants to imagine themselves in the house, not you and your family.  Put general art pictures on the walls.  Make the walls more neutral if they are outrageous colors.  Re-caulk your bathrooms, replace bad tiles, fill in extra holes in the walls, clean the carpets, wax the floors, and keep in mind that you are basically in over-drive with cleanliness.  Vacuum once a day, sweep and mop just as much, keep the counters clean.  Wash the windows, the outside and the inside.  This is a great time to finish any projects around the house.  Clean the chrome on the sinks, remove cobwebs and dust, replace light bulbs, if you haven't gotten the point - make it all look as new as possible.

If you are going to want to take something with you, then remove it before selling.  If a buyer sees it and that is then a part of what they think of as "the house".  You don't want this to become a deal breaker.  Your great-great-grand-mother's chandelier, take it down and store it too.  Tell someone, "No, you can't have that," and they will desire it even more a lot of the time.  Get some new bathroom towels, only put them out for views.  Nice clean linens on the beds too.

The outside of the house extremely important as well. There is more to do in fair weather than with snow; I will be talking about this in regards to spring, summer, and fall seasons. As stated earlier, make sure the windows are clean. Pressure wash the driveway and sidewalks too. If your roof looks somewhat faded, have someone get a push broom, water, and a little soap and wash it. It will make a look several years younger. Edge the lawn and flower beds. Make sure the flower beds look great. The edges should be crisp, the design groomed and thought out, and depending on the season - the plants should be looking healthy. A green yard is very important, make sure it is watered a half hour a day. If you have a fence, either wash it or paint it. Fill cracks and remove weeds from driveway. When you think you are done, look it over again.

Get away from the house and dissociate from the house for sale. Now, when you are approaching the house pretend that it is not your house. Park in the street if possible and look at it from the curb. Is the lawn mowed? How do the bushes look? You are pretending you are a buyer pulling up to look at this property. Can you see yourself having friends and family over to cook out. Running around in the yard? If not, what do you have to do to make the house pull you in? And when you have decided, is it worth changing to make it so?

Now walk in the house as if you were the buyer.  Look around, does the lay-out make sense?  Is the property well maintained?  Does the house look clean and manicured?    Pick everything you can apart and make it better.  If you can't do this process yourself; have friends come over and do it for you.  Tell them to be as picky as possible, and then all you have to do is keep a thick-skin and open-mind.

With your house being in optimal condition to sell; you always need to keep your target buyer in mind. Make sure the price is realistic, so many people tie their sentimental value of the house into the sales price. Unfortunately, this doesn't work because the buyer has no memories or sentiment towards the house for sale. If need be list the house on eBay, craigslist, if you talked with a local disc jockey for awhile they may make a free announcement for you. There are a million ways to advertise, be creative and don't wait for traditional methods to work. Tell your real-estate agent that you are willing to give a bonus to the buyers agent if it sells in twenty days from date of listing. Put fliers at the local gas stations that you are auctioning the house off to the highest bidder. Make sure to put a starting price and that there is a minimum reserve. The main points to always consider are that your house should be in the best condition it has ever been in, the market will determine the price, and sometimes people have to be creative to sell a house. Selling a house is often about getting people's attention.

• Craigslist
• eBay
• classified
• radio
• bulletin boards
• out-of-country agents
• add a bonus for buyer's agent with a deadline
• university near by, or hospital
• company that has a lot of out-of-town visitors