Get Your Home Ready to Sell

Eight Tips That Will Get Your Home Ready to Sell

You’ve finally decided to move on and sell your home. Your next step is putting it on the market…but not so fast.

To ensure your home sells quickly, and for top dollar, you want to get it in the best condition possible. You also want to make sure you’re getting a fair price.

With that in mind, here are some things you will want to do to get your house ready to sell.

Research the Housing Market

Start by researching your local housing market. This will give you an idea of what homes in your area are selling for. Find homes with similar square footage and numbers of baths and bedrooms. This will give you an idea of what your home should be selling for.

Find a Listing Agent

I highly recommend using Uri Chotzen. Your agent will lay out a plan for how to sell your house and use his expertise to bring in prospective buyers.

Declutter

A house that has a lot of clutter in it is not inviting. More than that, clutter makes the house look smaller. Get your home ready for open houses by eliminating as much clutter as possible. You may consider renting a storage unit to hold your stuff until the house is sold.

Deep Clean Your Home

A clean home will make a great first impression on prospective buyers. Clean every nook and cranny. You might even want to get a professional cleaner in.

Call a Handy Man

A handy man will be able to take care of little repairs that need to be done in your home. A broken closet door or doorknob can make potential buyers think the house is in disrepair in general. Little fixes can make all the difference when it comes to getting your house sold quickly.

Get a Paint Job

A good paint job will do a world of good in making your interior look its best. When painting, go for a light, neutral color. This way, buyers will feel that they have an open palette that they can use to do whatever they want. They will also know that they won’t have a problem painting over the walls if they choose to do so.

Pay Attention to the Outside

Curb appeal is another important factor. Make sure your home looks good from the outside too. Trim the grass and hedges and see to it that exterior repairs are taken care off.

Hire a Professional Photographer

When you list your home on a web site, you want it to look as attractive as possible. A professional photographer will take pictures that put your home in the best light. This will get people interested so more potential buyers come to check out your home.

If you are in the process of getting your home on the market, it’s important to get it looking its best. These tips and tricks will be extremely useful in ensuring your home sells quickly. We wish you the best of luck.

Buying During Coronavirus

Buying During Coronavirus

The coronavirus has affected businesses all over the world and the real estate industry is no exception.

How the Coronavirus Has Affected Buyers

The coronavirus has caused many businesses to close on a temporary or permanent basis. Now, as cities start to reopen, many still face financial uncertainty. Businesses are trying to recover from the economic impact of being closed for three months and many are opening in limited capacity to slow the spread while keeping an eye on their bottom line.

As a result, many employees are uncertain of their financial futures. They are wondering whether they will be able to return to work at all, and if they do, they are concerned that their hours or salaries may be cut.

Those that are concerned about their economic situations will be in no position to buy a house.

Lending

Lenders are hesitant to approve loans as they are wary of anyone that applies for a loan. The economic uncertainty means even those who seem to be in good shape to repay a loan today may not be so lucky tomorrow. Banks understand this and have tightened up their criteria.

Open Houses

The coronavirus has also made it more difficult to conduct open houses and to show properties at all.

Showing a property requires human contact and, with all the social distancing being enforced, people are going out of their way to stay physically separated from others. As a result, many open houses have been canceled completely (as in Washington for example). House showings are by appointment only.

Most people are not going to buy a home without being able to see it first, so the lack of open houses and showings is a major obstacle.

Housing Prices

Depending on your housing market, prices have not necessarily come down significantly, if at all. In Seattle for example the prices have not dramatically decreased for several reasons.

1)      Many first time home buyers still have secure jobs. Unemployment is worst in the labor sectors that primarily rent. The Tech industry on the whole has not experienced high unemployment. Major employers like Amazon and Microsoft are still hiring and bringing in talent from out of state and country.   

2) There is very little supply. Many sellers have “temporarily” taken their homes off the market in hopes of selling in a “hotter market” down the road. A lack of supply in the market place keeps the price up. Nationally, there are (approx.) 2 million homes on the market, compare that to the last financial crisis that had about double (4 million) the amount of homes for sale.  

Pent up Demand

The downturn caused by coronavirus may lead to an upturn when the lockdown restrictions are removed. It is expected that buyers will be flooding the market eager to make a deal and take advantage of low interest rates.

Those that are interested and able to buy should keep an eye on the market and be ready to pounce when they see the right home.