6 Steps to Selling a Home

Selling your house is a big deal. It can be overwhelming. But if you take a systematic approach and follow a few tried and true methods, you’ll find that you can sell your house quickly and with a healthy profit.

Here are six steps to follow when selling your house.

Step One: Hire the Right Agent

Your real estate agent can simplify and expedite the process of selling your house — and protect your interests legally by helping you understand the complicated contracts and contingencies. 

The agent can help you understand how to price your house for sale, give you tips on how to increase its value, market to prospective buyers, help you sort through and negotiate offers, walk you through contracts, and will guide you through the complicated closing process.

Step Two: Price Your House Competitively

The real estate market is fluid, meaning that home values increase and decrease with supply and demand. You can’t base your pricing strategy on what you paid for your home, how long you’ve lived in it, or what kind of memories you’ve made there. Your house is only worth what buyers are willing to pay in the current market.

Understanding Market Value

If there’s a lot of inventory on the market, meaning a lot of homes for sale, but not very many buyers, that’s called a buyers’ market. People are far less likely to compete for homes when there are so many to choose from. Sellers can’t be as picky with offers.

On the flip side, when there are only a few houses on the market, or low inventory, buyers have to compete with one another to get a house before someone else gets there first. 

In a sellers’ market, you can charge a higher price and be a bit choosier with the conditions included in offers, such as closing dates and contingencies. And, if you’re lucky, you’ll attract multiple offers and have the benefit of a bidding war.

Another thing to consider is that the longer a house stays listed on the market for sale, the less valuable it becomes to buyers. The house develops a stigma that something must be wrong with it. The same is true with price reductions. The more times you drop the price, the more desperate the situation seems to house-hunters.

Comparative Market Analysis

Your agent has access to and will provide you with a report called a comparative market analysis, or CMA. A CMA includes data about houses like yours that are in your neighborhood that are currently for sale and information about properties that have sold within the past 3-6 months.

This report tells you:

• How long a house was listed on the market
• The original asking price
• The number of times the price was reduced
• The final sales price

This information gives you a solid foundation for setting the price of your house. You can also explore open houses and houses for sale in your neighborhood to see how you stack up against other properties for sale.

Your agent is an expert in pricing homes, so trust their advice about pricing your house effectively.

Step Three: Staging Your House for Sale

The way you present your house for sale to potential buyers, the way you put it on display, makes a huge impact on how they perceive the value of your home. They either see curb appeal and a move-in-ready home, or they start ringing up dollar signs in their heads for every fix-it project or update that needs to be done, such as replacing carpets or painting walls.

Stage in four steps:

• Declutter: Rid the house of anything you don’t want or can’t use and pack up anything you won’t be needing before you move.
• Depersonalize:  Takedown any personal photographs, portraits, refrigerator artwork, knick-knack collections, sports memorabilia, and anything that makes a religious statement. You want to create a completely neutral environment.
• Deep Clean: Inside and out, the house has to be spic-and-span. You can power wash the exterior, but on the inside, you’ll cover everything from sinks, toilets, and bathtubs to ceiling vents and fans, baseboards, and walls.
• Accessorize: A few accents can add a welcoming touch and a “feel good” factor to the home, such as using potted flowers by the front door beside a welcome mat, a bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, fresh flowers in the living room, plants in the bedroom, and other things that make a home feel lively and nurtured.

Step Four: Marketing and Showing Your Home

Your agent will have a detailed plan on how to market your home by listing it on the MLS, creating social media posts and ads, and may use additional digital and traditional print marketing techniques.

Your agent might also choose to host virtual open houses or Livestream showings online.

You’ll receive notice before a showing so that you’ll have time to be away when buyers come to view the home, escorted by their own agent.

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Step Five: Reviewing and Negotiating Offers

Look beyond the price when reviewing offers. There are closing timelines to consider and contingencies that could throw a monkey wrench into your plans for selling your home. Ask your agent to point out all of the fine details, so you understand the offers.

Your real estate agent can also negotiate on your behalf with the buyer’s agent if you’re unhappy with contingencies or terms.

Step Six: Closing the Sale of Your Home

During closing, the house will have to be appraised and inspected, which comforts the bank that the house is in good shape and worth what you’re paying.

There will also be a title check to confirm that there are no holds on the title of the house, such as taxes or liens.

Most documents can be signed digitally, and most meetings, including the closing meeting, can be held virtually, provided you’ve made arrangements with your agent for document signing and turning over your keys.

Ask your seller’s agent for more information about how to sell your home.