Selling your house can be a headache.
You want the process to be as quick, easy and painless as possible. But your home is a significant asset so it’s crucial you find someone you can trust to maximise the sale and support you through the process.
So how exactly do you do that?
Well, there are ten key things that you need to get right. We’ve pulled them all together to make life easier for you.
1. Engage the Best Agent
Engaging the best agent for you and your property is critical. The best agent is not the person who helped your friends or family sell their place because that was only one sale.
The best agent is an individual with a strong track record, good market knowledge, and stellar personal service. We recommend that you interview at least three agents.
Yes, this is just like hiring an employee. But the thing is, this person is working for you and selling your most valuable asset – your home.
So invest the time to make sure you have the right person for you and your property.
2. Get a Pre-Inspection
We get pre-inspections on properties before offering them for sale. Here’s why.
The pre-inspection places your property above the competition, promotes confidence in potential buyers, and gives you stability. A pre-inspection also helps you avoid a lot of stress and inconvenience when you’re selling your home. (Click to Tweet)
You avoid offers vanishing after they’re accepted. You avoid sleepless nights wondering if the inspection will uncover something. You have the opportunity to fix anything that’s discovered early on.
You also have the upper hand when it comes to the bidding process.
3. Stage it Right
Staging your house is an art in itself. It helps you present your property at its’ best, which increases the number of potential buyers.
But staging isn’t easy to get right so it’s a great idea to get help from the professionals. Residencity gives you professional advice on the best way to stage your home for beautiful photography and an effective sale.
4. Provide a Floorplan
Research suggests that buyers are less likely to enquire about a property or arrange a viewing without a floor plan. The survey by Rightmove suggests that a floorplan may even be more important than the main image or summary description of your home.
Floor plans can demonstrate the flow of you home to potential buyers. They’re also a useful reminder to buyers after they’ve visited a property.
We believe floorplans are essential to marketing your property effectively, so be sure your agent includes them when publicising your home.
5. Present it Professionally
You’re smart so you know that everyone is online these days. People look at any potential homes thoroughly before they view them in person so professional presentation is important.
Your property needs to stand out as being better and more inviting than the competition. This starts with professional photography.
Ask potential agents how they plan to photograph your home and eliminate anyone who doesn’t use a professional photographer. Professional photography brings out the best in your property and can elicit emotion, which sells homes more effectively.
6. Provide a feature sheet
Just listing your home isn’t enough. It has to be marketed professionally, particularly if you want it to sell quickly, and for the maximum amount.
The more information you can provide potential buyers, the better. A feature sheet can answer questions before they arise and help you stand apart from other buyers. (Click to Tweet)
A high-quality feature sheet also allows you to showcase the benefits of your particular property, and make the most of your professional photography.
7. Arrange an Open House
Open homes help sell your house – if they’re done right. You want your agent engaged and attentive, and working to sell your property.
Unfortunately, many agents see open homes as an opportunity to find buyers who don’t have agents. Not cool.
At Residencity, we only represent sellers – not buyers. We want to help you have the best experience possible when it comes to selling your home.
8. Receive Reports
No matter who you engage to sell your house, be sure they have regular communication with you. In particular, you need to know the how many visitors have been on your property, and you should receive an open house report.
As the vendor, you’re entitled to know what is going on and also be informed of any neighborhood sales and listings.
9. See all Offers
Be sure that your agent shows you all the offers they receive. This is a real problem in the real estate industry.
Some agents filter offers to ensure they receive a commission for both the purchase and the sale of the property. In fact, agents can filter offers for all sorts of reasons that you’re not aware of.
You need to be sure you can trust your agent to show you all the offers, and to work with you to negotiate the best deal.
10. Close the deal
A good agent will help you close the deal. Between the initial sales agreement and settlement (or closing) there can be questions. The agent can help you by answering questions, helping to resolve issues and move the transaction to close.
At Residencity we believe in offering you the best. We include pre-inspections, professional photography, floor plans and feature sheets as standard with all our property listings.
If you’re interested in listing your home for sale, give us a call at 604.288.9166 to see how we can help.
