Do These Steps Before Listing Your House
Homeowners sell their houses for many different reasons: relocating for a new job, the house is too small for their growing family, or they want a different lifestyle. Whatever the reason, selling your home (a.k.a. your biggest investment) and moving are major stressful events in your lifetime.
There are three steps we find crucial to managing the stress of selling your home before you list it for sale.
Call Your Realtor
We have heard this before from homeowners: I didn’t want to call you until the house was ready to sell.
While we appreciate a home being “market ready”, an important part of our job is to provide homeowners with feedback on market conditions and to complete an evaluation of their home. Why is this the first step? Because our expertise and knowledge help homeowners focus on the most important projects, spending money on updates or repairs that will provide a return on investment.
In other words, it’s never too early to call us.
Spend Time Getting Your Home Ready
Repairs
After your home evaluation, you can spend some time making necessary repairs or updates to your home. Everyone’s budget and capacity are different, and we work on creating the best plan for your home based on what you can and can’t do.
If there are high ticket repairs (such as new roof or new HVAC), be sure to work with a company that provides a transferable warranty. This means that their work and product is warrantied even after the home sale, and the new homeowner benefits from the warranty.
Declutter
The word “decluttering” can bring chills to a homeowner. It seems overwhelming – and it can be. Each closet, drawer and cabinet need to be cleared out, not to mention removing extra décor. In our home evaluation, not only do we provide a list of repairs/updates, but also a list of decluttering specific to your home. We have more info in a previous blog on decluttering and staging.
This process can feel very personal. One way to think about it is that clearing out and cleaning up are a means to the end – the sale of your home!
Curb Appeal
Most home buyers know within the first 10 minutes of a home tour if the house is for them or not. This process starts as soon as they drive up to the house, so curb appeal is very important!
This does not necessarily mean you have to buy new landscaping and lighting. Factors that influence curb appeal are: freshly cut grass, easy maintenance shrubs and flowers, front steps, porch and siding in good condition, and a freshly painted front door. You don’t have to go overboard with curb appeal – just make it look fresh. Again, we’ll add curb appeal updates to our home evaluation. We give you the plan so you know you’re spending time and money on the right items.
Disclose
In Tennessee, sellers need to complete a Property Condition Disclosure form. On this form, you list all the components of the house (ex: type of electrical, appliances, age of roof). It’s your opportunity to let the homebuyer know what you know about the house. Look at it from a positive view. Remember those repairs you just did? Now you can note “updated electrical” or “new roof” on the disclosure form. Our motto with the property condition disclosure: When in doubt, disclose!
Do you have questions specific to your home? Let’s chat!