Need to sell your house? Here is a quick guide, step by step of what to do first before listing it for sale.
Selling a house is much work the same as buying a house. When you are getting ready to list your home for sale, it is hard to know where to start, but with a few quick steps, you can make it easier.
If you have never sold a home before, ask anyone who has done it, you may be surprised by how complex it can be.
Buyers have a lot of options, and they do not have to buy what you are selling.
First, you need to make sure it looks good to make it more appealing for whoever has the intention to buy because nobody wants to buy a house that requires a lot of work or that may cause a headache.
Extra Tips:
1-Do you want to sell at a higher price? Make sure it looks good and has some advantages more than any house in the market.
2-Do you want to sell fast? Always remember that you need to make enough people know your home is on the market.
Preparing Your Home for Sale
Generally, if you are living in the apartment that you want to sell, you will want to move bulky and excess furniture. You will also want to do some repairs before selling, but remember you do not want to spend a lot of money making improvements, but you do want to repair obvious maintenance issues.
Make it sparkle
1-Wipe Away: Use disposable wipes to quick-clean toilet bowls and areas in the kitchen.
2-Scented Bathroom: Put a small amount of your favorite scented cleaner in your toilet bowls each night before bed. In the morning, every bathroom will smell great!
3-Clean As You Go: Wiping up spills as they happen will make tough jobs a lot easier.
4-Rescue rugs: Use rugs or mats at all entrances to catch dirt and grit that can build up on floors and carpets.
5-De clutter: Cramped and cluttered rooms turn buyers off and make your house look smaller.
Set the pricing for your home (Get estimates)
Overpricing is not a good strategy. Starting with a high price, and then cutting the price later is not always the best idea if you want to sell quickly.
Extra Tip: Use Aqarmap estimates to get an approximate price of the apartment, and it will also keep you updated if anything changed with prices. Here are some additional tips:
1-Don’t get Creative with your Selling price
Sometimes, sellers want to get creative with their selling price. For example, if the house worth about 200,000 LE, they may say I would like to sell my home for 197,300 LE, with no reason just because they love how the number sounds. So please, Do not get creative.
2-Understand that pricing is a discussion
Pricing a home is not a “Set-and-forget” procedure. A lot of factors can come into when selling or buying a home. If you can be flexible and react quickly to changing market conditions or new information, you are more likely to get the best deal with the least aggravation.
3-Considerations
The time of year and season can influence your selling process. For example, selling in the summer is different from the winter, understand your market then start selling.
4- Think like a Buyer
Put yourself in the buyers’ shoes. Homeowners are emotionally attached to their homes so they can objectively place a value on the property.
5-Compare and Look
Compare and search for similar homes that were listed in the same neighborhood over the past three months, to help you understand the market.
6- How much time do you have to sell?
If you need to sell quickly, maybe you would accept a low price because you are in a hurry, but if you have the time, you can take things slowly until you find the best deal.
How to deal with buyers?
Dealing with difficult buyers is often an unpleasant reality when trying to sell a home.
Sellers, in general, tend to have a bias about the worth of their home, and obviously because it is their home. Making investments like replacing the floor, landscaping, and other improvements do bring a return on investment but, remember they are not profit generators.
On the other hand, buyers see a list of issues, which translates into more expenses to handle after buying. And that is the root cause of their objections and demands.
MISTAKES that you may fall into when you find a buyer
1- Not being realistic about your home value
What you think your home is worth and the price you can sell it for are often two very different numbers. Understand that buyers do not care about how much you paid, or how much you are attached to it.
2-Refusing to negotiate
Being very aggressive about the price that you have just set from the first place can make you wait a long time until you find a buyer who would pay the exact number you are asking for, so you need to learn to negotiate once to put your house for sale to be able to close a deal.
3-Rejecting the Early Buyers
One common mistake that sellers usually make is rejecting early buyers thinking they should wait for a better deal. The market is always changing if you find an offer that meets the house price. Do not be greedy and wait for another offer as it may not come.
4-Being Too Attached
If you want to sell your home sweet home, then do not start wasting your time and buyers’ time by just refusing lots of deals with the excuse of waiting for a better deal.
5-Contracts hiccups
When you found a potential buyer, and you are about to finish the deal, congratulations! But please do not forget to hire a trusted lawyer to review and write legal contracts to avoid any problems in the future that you do not want to get yourself in.
Buying a New Home
If you are willing to buy a new home, Put together a list of neighborhoods where you may want to live.
Compare the prices of newer homes vs. older homes. Weigh your options, and make sure before selling your old house that you are in the process of finding a new one and try to close the two deals at the same time.
You can also mention in the contract of selling your house that you would leave the house on a date that fits the timing of your moving to the new home.