Step #1 Prepare your home - You only get one chance to make a great first impression! Make sure you fix little items that need attention, touch up the paint, spruce up the landscaping. Investing the time and money to do small cosmetic repairs as well as making sure the home will pass inspection is key in order for you to secure the highest price for your home! A simple 5K full house mini renovation can add tens of thousands to the purchase price.
Step #2 Staging - Staging might be moving furniture, painting to add color (not just touching up), moving unnecessary items to storage, reducing closet contents by 50%, cleaning carpets, cleaning windows, improving traffic flow in the home, or a myriad of different, low-cost things to enhance your home and increase the “WOW” factor.
Step #3 Setting your price - A real estate broker, hopefully with local knowledge, is your best bet for receiving an accurate pricing opinion. Better yet – seek opinions from multiple agents in regard to pricing. As brokers, we are out daily with buyers. We see their reactions to different homes and neighborhoods. We have a finger on the proverbial “pulse” of the market. We can give real price recommendations based upon what’s happening in the real world. Online estimates are great at giving you a general idea but it takes on the ground knowledge to set a competitive price.
Step #4 Photos - Nowadays photos are more essential than ever. If you do not have quality and professional photos taken of your staged home you will never receive the traffic needed to get the highest possible offer. Make sure that all the photos are well lit and really help accentuate the space of the room. These photos will be used in step #5 and it is crucial that they make a great impression on prospective buyers.
Step #5 Marketing! - This is where the rubber meets the road! Weather its you or your agent that is going to be marketing your home you need a strategy! From the pre - open house to the online marketing you need to create a plan to make sure you drive as many possible buyers to your open house and online sites as possible.