5 Tips to Sell Your Home Fast

Looking to sell your home this year? I’m so excited to collaborate with Andrew Santana, one of my favorite real estate agents from the Garden State (New Jersey) to share 5 tips to sell your home fast. Thank you Andrew for sharing your best kept secrets with us on marketing your home to sell quickly! 

5 Tips to Sell Your Home Fast

• Declutter: If you seem to be hitting a wall on how to start identifying things that need to be removed consider the 1/5 Rule. Group together 5 items in a given area of your house, choose at least one item in the group that you don’t need or can be put away, and leave the other four out. Storage is important to buyers and a decluttered home is key.

• Get A Home Inspection: You may know some odds and ends around the house that need fixing, but are you sure that you are aware of everything? It’ll be a great advantage to stay ahead of the game and know what needs to be addressed by someone who represents your interests and not the buyer.

• Be Realistic About Pricing: It is important to know and be aware of the market in your area. What homes look like yours, have the same characteristics, and compare well? How much are they selling for? Remember sentimental value doesn’t correlate with the real estate market.

• Spruce Up Your Home: Replace burnt out bulbs, fix small odds and ends that need attention – buyers pay attention to the smallest detail. It would be beneficial to repaint the whole house, but if that’s not possible then just focus on the trim, shutters, and front door.

• Get Psyched: Prepare to let strangers into your home, prepare to be asked to leave your home with short notice, prepare to have these things happen many times, prepare for everything. Be prepared to do whatever you can to get your home sold.  

Want more tips? Keep reading for more detailed instructions and excellent tips from a licensed real estate agent! Interested in buying or selling? If you live in New Jersey, I highly recommend Andrew Santana to guide you in your journey.

Connect with Andrew Santana: Facebook | Email | Phone: 973.376.5200

Declutter

“GASP, I CAN’T BREATHE!” A little over the top, yes, but buyers will certainly think this if your home is full of STUFF! Oh, the importance of a home that allows you to breathe as you glide through its halls, its rooms, its floor layout. Now I understand that all homes are unique in style and build, some homes are open in design and others have a lot of closed rooms, but every single home on the market should be clutter free. It is very important to recognize and identify things in your home that can be put away into storage or gotten rid of so that first impressions of your home become lasting ones.

Remember, a lot of home buyers start their search on the world wide web; therefore, the photos of your home are usually the very first encounter they experience. A cluttered and junk riddled home will show the same in pictures, as much as a professional photographer will try to salvage the situation.

If you seem to be hitting a wall on how to start identifying things that need to be removed consider the 1/5 Rule. Group together 5 items in a given area of your house, choose at least one item in the group that you don’t need or can be put away, and leave the other four out. Continue on with this method until you’ve examined every item in your house. If you remained diligent in getting rid of one item for every five you’ve grouped together, you have a house that just went through a decluttering process, a fifth of the items removed and out of view, congratulations! Remember this rule of thumb, LIVING in your home does not look the same as SELLING your home.  

Home Inspection

One of the first ways to prepare to sell your home is to have it inspected.  This may come as a surprise to many of you because the term “Home Inspection” in the Real Estate process usually comes up AFTER an offer has been accepted on your house.

A smart buyer is going to hire a licensed professional to inspect your home on their end, so it would be an incredibly wise decision to get an inspection done before you even put your house on the market. You may know some odds and ends around the house that need fixing, but are you sure that you are aware of everything? It’ll be a great advantage to stay ahead of the game and know what needs to be addressed by someone who represents your interests and not the buyer (even though at this point, there are not yet any buyers in the picture).  

Addressing issues and concerns your inspector notes in the report before your home goes on the market gets you that much closer to success. Inspections in the middle of a transaction are constrained to time contingencies and subject you to the possibility of monetary loss. Before you subject yourself to such stress, find your own solutions on your own time and reap the benefits at the closing table!

Pricing

There is no doubt that for many of you your home holds tremendous sentimental value. There are memories of pivotal moments in your family’s life that have tied you to your home in a way that no price number could quantify. Unfortunately, this does not connect with real estate markets and trends. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but one that must be taken serious. It is important to know and be aware of the market in your area. What homes look like yours, have the same characteristics, and compare well? How much are they selling for?

Research and be informed of the market to help you figure out a price that makes sense. To break down how real estate works, you and your agent come up with an opinion on how much your home is worth and put it on the market for the world to see, but the market will tell you how much it thinks its worth. It does so by either having buyers flock to your home to buy in the first couple of weeks, or leaving your home sitting without interest for months.

If you are still hesitant on focusing on a number that reflects the market, I would suggest asking an appraiser to come check out your property. An appraisal is a professional appraiser’s opinion of value and can help you to have realistic expectations for your asking price.

Spruce Up

Time to create excitement! Your house can always use a touch up, but even more so when going on the market. Replace burnt out bulbs, fix small odds and ends that need attention – buyers pay attention to the smallest detail. It would be beneficial to repaint the whole house, but if that’s not possible then just focus on the trim, shutters, and front door. Polish up your entryway to the house. If there is any exposed metal leading up to your front door, get it to look shiny. Power washing your walkway and steps is a great idea.

The last touch is your landscaping – cutting the grass, trimming the bushes, putting new plantings, laying down new mulch – do whatever it takes to wow potential buyers as they pull up to your home. Great first impressions lead to success and give potential buyers the expectation that something great is waiting for them inside!

Psych Yourself Up

We’ve gone through a lot of tedious and physical demands in preparing your home, but we cannot forget the mental one. You need to literally psych, amp, hype yourself up to sell your home. This motivation will make your real estate agent LOVE you! Prepare to let strangers into your home, prepare to be asked to leave your home with short notice, prepare to have these things happen many times, prepare for everything. Nothing is worse than a seller who refuses to accommodate a showing request.  Most times those buyers do not come back; it’s not worth it to lose potential buyers because you just didn’t feel like being bothered on a particular day.

You should have expectations of your realtor, to market your home, to let the mass public know that your home is for sale and is ready for a buyer. But as a seller, you have expectations that need to be met as well (from a realtor’s perspective). Selling your home is a joint relationship, it’s a two way street, it’s a dialogue, you and a your realtor need to work together to achieve success. Be prepared to do whatever you can to sell your home fast.  

Written by: Andrew Santana 

Bio: Young, determined, and full of life, Andrew has burst on to the real estate scene and is not looking back. A native and life-long resident of the Garden State, Andrew has had the privilege of growing up in both vibrant and diverse environments. Andrew has acquired knowledge and experience in transactions of all kinds, from buying and selling, to the fixer upper and the epitome of luxury. Now with the prowess and aptitude of the industry, Andrew is geared and ready to walk you through the process as a first time buyer, assist you in seizing your investment opportunity, or lead you into your dream come true. Whatever the need may be, Andrew Santana will be your guide to success.

Connect with Andrew Santana: Facebook | Email | Phone: 973.376.5200