Whether you’re preparing to sell your home soon or toying with the idea of selling your home years from now, there are many things to consider before selling your house. As you prepare to put your home on the market, you’ll want to have a to-do list of everything that needs to get done. Although it can feel like a chore to get your house ready for its next potential owner, putting in the time and effort to get your home in top condition before it hits the market is a good thing to do. Some homeowners lose out on money or potential buyers because they overlook the key steps of selling a home.
How Do You Know If It’s Time to Sell Your House?
Sometimes, you might have an obvious push to sell your home. As an example, some folks put their house on the market when they need to relocate soon for their job or their children’s college plans. Others might know it’s time to sell a home when they need to downsize or move due to the cost of living in the area where the house is located rising beyond their household budget. Others still may know it’s time to sell a house because, on an intrinsic level, they sense that’s the right move. If you know that it’s time to sell your house, there’s nothing wrong with going with your gut and trusting your instincts.
Even though you may not know that it’s time to sell your home, you can evaluate how selling it would benefit you now or in the future. If you need the cash and the house is taking up too much of your time as you work to maintain it, you might fare best if you put it on the market. On the other hand, if you’re still living there and you don’t have another place to live lined up, you may want to hold off on selling the house until you’ve established your next steps. Since it’s your home, you’re the only one who can decide when it’s the right time to sell it. In the meantime, you can think about what you plan to do with the property to increase its value until it’s time to sell and ponder all of the things to consider before selling your house.
Whether you’re preparing to sell your home soon or toying with the idea of selling your home years from now, there are many things to consider before selling your house. As you prepare to put your home on the market, you’ll want to have a to-do list of everything that needs to get done. Although it can feel like a chore to get your house ready for its next potential owner, putting in the time and effort to get your home in top condition before it hits the market is a good thing to do. Some homeowners lose out on money or potential buyers because they overlook the key steps of selling a home.
How Do You Know If It’s Time to Sell Your House?
Sometimes, you might have an obvious push to sell your home. As an example, some folks put their house on the market when they need to relocate soon for their job or their children’s college plans. Others might know it’s time to sell a home when they need to downsize or move due to the cost of living in the area where the house is located rising beyond their household budget. Others still may know it’s time to sell a house because, on an intrinsic level, they sense that’s the right move. If you know that it’s time to sell your house, there’s nothing wrong with going with your gut and trusting your instincts.
Even though you may not know that it’s time to sell your home, you can evaluate how selling it would benefit you now or in the future. If you need the cash and the house is taking up too much of your time as you work to maintain it, you might fare best if you put it on the market. On the other hand, if you’re still living there and you don’t have another place to live lined up, you may want to hold off on selling the house until you’ve established your next steps. Since it’s your home, you’re the only one who can decide when it’s the right time to sell it. In the meantime, you can think about what you plan to do with the property to increase its value until it’s time to sell and ponder all of the things to consider before selling your house.
1. Time to Clean the House
When you visit a friend’s home or even a stranger’s home for the first time, you’re probably struck by how clean or dirty the place is. Sometimes, you might even avoid going to someone’s house if it’s consistently unclean or unsanitary. In the same way that you judge a house by its cleanliness, potential buyers will take note of how clean the home seems. Although that might seem shallow, it’s the way we all work.
If you think about it, you wouldn’t want to buy a house that seemed like the owners rarely or never cleaned it, would you? Most people would worry that the house might have pests, rodents, or mold issues if it seems like it hasn’t been cleaned in a while. This is why we would recommend adding hiring a house cleaning service to your list of things to consider before selling your house.
The professionals will have the tools, supplies, and knowledge to deep clean your home before you show it to anyone. Ideally, you would want to deep clean your house and sanitize every inch of it before you snap photos of the home. Even though you might be too excited to wait to take photos of the house, you may find that more people are interested in viewing it or putting in offers if it looks clean. A clean house may also look newer and more recently updated. This can appeal to folks who want a sleek, modern look to their future home.
2. Find Your Next Home
Although some folks may put off finding a new home on their list of things to consider before selling your house, it’s a good idea to have your next dwelling on the radar as you prepare to transition away from your current one. If you plan on living in a community that has an HOA, you’ll want to browse the homeowners association website to see if their rules and guidelines suit your lifestyle. For example, if a community bans pets and you have several animals, it may not be a good fit for you.
While you may want to wait to look for a new home until you know how much you will get paid for your current home, it’s never too early to see what your options may be if you want to move. Depending on when you bought your house, the cost of living may have changed to the point where your dollar won’t go as far on the rental market or real estate market as it did when you purchased your first home. Based on what time of year it is when you sell your house, you may also find that it’s easier or harder to find short-term rentals in your area to tide you over until you settle into permanent housing after selling your home.
3. Protect Your Property
While you should have bought home insurance when you got your home, it’s never too late to protect it. Even if you’re on the brink of putting your home on the market and thinking about things to consider before selling your house, you’ll still want to keep your home insurance policy updated. When you have a home insurance policy on the property, you’ll find that it’s easier to protect yourself against liability and qualifying damage that might arise while you’re in the middle of selling your home. As long as you’re the owner of the home, it’s your responsibility to protect it with the appropriate amount of coverage.
When you’re selling your home, it can open you up to all kinds of potential problems that insurance could help you cover. For example, if your home experiences a theft of valuable belongings while you’re in the middle of showing your house to sell, you may be able to recover some of the funds to replace the stolen items if the event qualifies for coverage. Additionally, natural disasters and other problems don’t stop just because you sell your house. Until the keys and deed are officially the responsibility of the new owner, you’ll want to keep your home protected.
4. Replace Worn Items
If you’ve been putting off a home window replacement for years, selling your house may give you a good opportunity to get the job done. For potential home buyers, nothing is a bigger turn-off on a property than noticing that you need to replace something as basic as a window or door. Unless you’re marketing your home as a fixer-upper and discounting the price based on the condition of the property, you’ll want to fix these issues before you put it on the market and think about things to consider before selling your house.
While you don’t need to renovate or remodel your home before you sell it, you might find that making little repairs here and there will increase the value of the home. If you have a broken window in your home, future home buyers may question the safety of your property and the neighborhood as a whole. Whether that’s a fair assessment or an unfair one, it’s a valid concern.
Home buyers are looking to invest in a property that will either give them a return on that investment by providing a safe, stable house for their loved ones or their renters if they plan on becoming landlords. As a result, they may not be willing to overlook worn or busted items in the home. If there are other properties on the market without these issues for a comparable asking price to your home, you may find that they’ll be inclined to take their business elsewhere unless you fix every part of your home that needs to be repaired before you start to schedule showings.
5. Spruce Up Your Style
While any potential homeowner should respect your personal interior design choices, you should attract the potential buyer you want to purchase your home by curating the design of the home to suit their style. When you think about who you would like to buy your home, there are a few things to consider before selling your house. You should think about what the family or person who buys your home does for a living, how large the family is, what their values are, and what their lifestyle might be.
For example, if you want to attract young professional couples without children, your design choices may be very different from the ones you would make if you wanted to appeal to rustic large families in a rural setting. Likewise, you’ll want to think about how you can elevate the space to get the most money out of the sale. A clean, modern look will probably warrant a higher asking price than used broken furniture or dirty old newspapers littering the floors.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money on making your home look good when you stage it. Sometimes, less is more and people will appreciate an editing eye in design. Simple furniture can also make it easier for future homeowners to envision themselves living in that space once they buy it and put their touch on it. Alternatively, having an artistic, one-of-a-kind design in your home can elevate it and make it appeal to the fine art crowd.
6. Rely on the Professionals
While you could try to navigate real estate on your own, it’s best to leave it to the professionals. After all, they know the laws, ethics, and regulations of the field. They also have their fingers on the pulse of the latest trends in the industry.
In the same vein, you should consult with a homeowner insurance service to protect your home. They may be able to help with some of the things to consider before selling your house. They can also help you protect your new home when you move.
7. Prevent and Remove Pests
Since cockroaches, mice, and other pests could be health and safety issues, you should call an exterminator to take care of them. They’ll prevent a pest problem from getting in the way of your home sale. They also might have tips for things to consider before selling your house from a pest control perspective.
8. Clean the Exterior
The outside of your house is as important as the inside in terms of things to consider before selling your house. For this reason, we recommend power washing the exterior. From the foundation to the roof, you’ll want it to sparkle!
9. Maintain Attached Structures
Beyond maintaining the main parts of your house, you should keep attached structures like decks and garages strong as some of the things to consider before selling your house. Complete garage door repairs before putting your home on the market. Additionally, finish any projects for creating attached structures like decks before you pass your home to other people.
10. Follow Local Laws and Regulations
The most important things to consider before selling your house are the related laws and regulations. You should ask your realtor about inspections and other requirements. You should also know about your municipality’s codes and how you can comply with them.
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