Are you thinking about selling your home? Congratulations! It’s a big step.
Before you move forward with selling your home, make sure you do your research. Selling your home can be a recipe for frustration, and selling your first home can feel overwhelming.
There’s a lot to think about before your home is ready for sale. You need to make it look as appealing to buyers as possible. You probably need minor home repairs, financial and tax documents, a great real estate agent, and more.
To make the experience a success, follow these selling your home tips.
1. Consider Your Curb Appeal
The inside of your home may be spotless, but what about the outside? Curb appeal is essential when presenting your home to potential buyers.
Curb appeal means what the outside of your home looks like, from the yard to the front door and windows.
To boost your curb appeal, there are a few easy steps you can take. If your front door and front porch are tarnished or dull, a fresh coat of paint can work wonders.
Is your yard as neat and tidy as it could be? Put away children’s toys, lawnmowers, and hide garbage bins out of eyesight.
And have you used your lawnmower lately? If your garden isn’t looking as manicured as possible, invest some time planting fresh flowers and getting everything looking neat and clean. You may even want to invest in a professional gardener to spruce up your greenery.
2. Home Repairs
Depending on the state of your home and your home selling goals, your repairs could range from minor to major.
Start with the small stuff. Do you have a leaky faucet? Kitchen or bathroom tiles that have come loose? These little fixes will make your home look fresh. You don’t want potential buyers to consider all the work they’ll need to do once they move in.
Windows and doors should be in good condition, and large appliances like washers, dryers, and dishwashers should be in good working order.
Electrical panels and circuit breakers need to be checked and working perfectly. You must make sure they are up to code before you put your house on the market.
And don’t forget the roof. A roof with missing shingles or damaged siding is something that buyers will notice.
Taking care of small repairs will immediately boost the aesthetic appeal of your home. Large repairs will allow you to ask for significantly more money from your sale.
3. Painting
Did you opt for a beautiful shade of green for your office walls? Or maybe your child asked for a bright pink bedroom! That might have worked well for you, but now that you’re selling your home, you’ll need to paint.
Warm neutral colors are always best. Everyone has different tastes, so you need to make your home as universally appealing as possible. And many buyers will want to paint their new home. Light colors that will be easy to paint over are best.
Plus, light neutral colors can make small spaces appear larger. And sprucing up your home with a fresh coat of paint will make it look clean and inviting.
4. Organize Papers and Documents
Paperwork can be one of the most intimidating parts of the home sale process. However, if you take your time to get organized before you put your home on the market, you can make the process a lot easier.
Potential buyers may ask to see furnace and air conditioning warranty information, and it’s always a good idea to have on hand. If you can provide maintenance records, even better.
Documents on your roof age and repair history are important as well, so your potential buyers know when they will need to address roof maintenance and repairs in the future.
For yourself, gather all paperwork related to your outstanding mortgage balance, if applicable. This will make your end of the resale process easier, and you will need this information for your next home purchase.
5. Know The Best Time to Sell a Home
Like many markets, the real estate market has seasonal cycles. Your real estate agent should know what the cycles are like in your area.
Typically spring is the best time to sell your home. Spring listings usually sell above asking, as more people are shopping for homes at this time.
However, with the right real estate agent, the other seasons can fetch a great asking price as well. In San Diego, data shows homes sell 2.8% more than the yearly average in October!
Talk to your real estate agent to develop a great plan for when to put your home on the market.
6. A Pre-Listing Inspection
A pre-listing inspection has a lot of benefits for home sellers. It can help you understand and evaluate your home’s value, and having the inspection information available makes you more trustworthy for potential buyers.
A pre-listing inspection can also help identify any repairs you may have missed, so you can address them before you put your home up for sale.
And a pre-listing inspection can give you a competitive advantage if other sellers in your area neglected to get their own. Your real estate agent should be able to advise you of any repairs your home needs, or upgrades that can increase the pre-sale value of your home.
7. Research Your Local Housing Market
It’s important to do your research when you start the home selling process. How much are homes in your area selling for? Are there a lot of other houses for sale in your area? And how long are homes staying on the market in your neighborhood?
All this information will help you decide when to sell your home and how much to ask for your home. This research will also help you set realistic goals for your home sale and determine what steps you need to take to make it as successful as possible.
If there are very few homes for sale in your area and a lot of buyers, you can probably skip extensive home repairs. But if the market is competitive, you’ll have to put more work into getting your house ready for the market if you want to ask for a competitive price.
8. Understand Current Tax Laws
Before you sell your home, you need to understand what taxes you’ll have to pay for the sale.
In San Diego, you’ll need to pay a transfer tax. And, if you sell your home in the middle of a property tax period, you may need to pay partial property taxes when they are due.
Understand current tax laws before you list your home, so you don’t get hit with any surprise fees.
9. Hire a Great Real Estate Agent
Having the right real estate agent can make the difference between selling your home quickly or having it on the market for months.
A great real estate agent will help support you every step of the way during your home sale process. They should know your local market and have a lot of great experiences and references.
An experienced agent will know what they’re doing since they’ve been navigating the San Diego landscape for years. We’ve seen people make enough rookie mistakes, so you don’t have to!
Selling Your Home
Are you ready to sell your home? Start by getting your home in order! Make a checklist and knock off those home repairs, paperwork organization, and more.
Once you’re ready, it’s time to find a great real estate agent. From speeding up the process to helping you negotiate a better deal, they can save you a lot of money and frustration in the long run.
When you’re ready to discuss selling your home, contact Mike Meyers Real Estate. Mike has years of experience in the San Diego real estate market, and his expertise can help you achieve all your goals.
Mike’s personalized service means he will help you through each part of the home sale process and is always available to answer questions. Mike’s level of service goes beyond just selling your home. He is attentive to the emotional aspects of a home sale and works with you so you can understand the whole process.
Mike’s clients have this to say about his services:
If you are looking for a partner who will help you navigate purchasing and selling a home while always keeping your bests interests in mind I would highly recommend Mike. He is incredibly knowledgeable, thorough, and he follows up well after the purchase/sale of your home to ensure everything is going well. You will gain a friend from this process as I have and I would recommend Mike to anyone who is looking into selling or purchasing a home.
Contact Mike Myers at (619) 980-2378 or [email protected].
