Are you about to put your home on the market and are unsure of where to start in order to get ready? Being prepared for this takes effort, both mentally and physically, for sellers and it can be quite taxing. The physical part is often the hardest but the mental preparation can be just as tiring going from homeowner to home seller.
At Stephen Cooley Real Estate Group, we’ve had vast experience with coaching our sellers on how to prep their home for listing. Here’s a checklist that you can use as a homeowner or agent to send to your sellers to get prepared for the transition:
- Know What It Means to List Your Home – I want to sell my home, now what? You’ve decided to sell your home and now there’s a process you’re going to go through in order to reach your goal of selling it! A good agent will take the time to make sure that you understand what the timeframe is for listing a home, the prep work, all the documentation, open houses, what’s required of you as a seller, a buyer persona, etc. Don’t hesitate to ask questions to make sure that you feel comfortable! If you don’t feel comfortable or understand, this may be an indication that this is not the agent for you.
- Change Is Coming – Once you’ve decided who you want to list your home, the listing agent should schedule a walk through of your home in order to advise you on what it is going to take to sell your home. This will include things that may need to be fixed, furniture that should be rearranged to show optimal space, getting rid of clutter, fixing that broken cabinet door, etc. This can be hard to hear as it feels like a personal attack but know that it’s not, it’s coming from a good place. You hired the listing agent for a reason and that is to get your home SOLD!
- Clean Home – When someone is looking for home, preferences are different across the board with buyers but one that is not is a clean home. You should enlist the help of a local professional cleaning company for a deep clean, ask your listing agent to provide a list of the major areas to tackle and if they don’t have one, use ours! Have a deep cleaned home helps set you up for success for pictures for marketing your home as well as a baseline in order to show your home.
- Bye Felicia – There are going to be times when you as the homeowner cannot be present in the home in order to sell it. Don’t forget, this also includes your pets – be sure to make arrangements ahead of time for them. Here’s a few examples of those times:
- Open Houses
- Buyer Showings
- Inspections or Appraisals
- Congratulations – You accepted the buyers offer, now what? Once you’ve come to an agreement with the buyers there is a 30-45-day window before closing. This includes inspections, appraisals, paperwork, etc. Your listing agent should keep you completely informed on where you stand in the process. During this time, it is also important to make your moving preparations to your new home! Keep in mind that once closing day happens you are supposed to be completely moved unless otherwise established with your buyer.
If you’re looking for a real estate group to list your home with, call us today for an appointment! We’d love to walk you through our home selling process, remember your home sold or we’ll buy it!