I'm planning on putting my house up for sale. My question to you guys and gals is what should I do to help sale it? It's been totaly updated and remodeled. It is a manufacture home and will probably be listed around 80-85k. I only owe 40k. So what little things would be turn off or ons to potential buyers? Should I do some light landscaping?thanks it's my first time selling a house.
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Selling my house...need input
- Thread starter Zgreen1
- Start date
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We sold our house of 15 years last summer. It was on the market for 13 days.
Get as much of your stuff out of the house as possible. We rented a storage unit. Pare down to the bare minimum you need to live there. The more stuff that is gone, the bigger it looks and the easier it is for the potential buyer to imagine themselves there. You don't want your house looking like you need a bigger house...even if you do. Get rid of highly personal things including pictures if there are a lot. Clean everything...twice, including carpets. Make sure everything looks like you are meticulous with maintenance. If you have rooms painted in bold, bright primary colors, paint them in a more muted tone. Don't care if you just painted.
MAKE SURE THE PICTURES THAT ARE TAKEN ARE IN FOCUS AND OF A SPOTLESS, UNCLUTTERED HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!! You would not believe what we saw for pictures on the MLS websites when we were looking for a house. Dirty laundry on the floor. Unmade beds. Dishes in the sink. Treat this like a bid deal photo shoot and consider each shot. Insist on seeing the pictures to make sure they are clear. Yes, I have seen blurry pictures in MLS listings. Take a lot of pictures, 20 to 30.
Good luck!
Get as much of your stuff out of the house as possible. We rented a storage unit. Pare down to the bare minimum you need to live there. The more stuff that is gone, the bigger it looks and the easier it is for the potential buyer to imagine themselves there. You don't want your house looking like you need a bigger house...even if you do. Get rid of highly personal things including pictures if there are a lot. Clean everything...twice, including carpets. Make sure everything looks like you are meticulous with maintenance. If you have rooms painted in bold, bright primary colors, paint them in a more muted tone. Don't care if you just painted.
MAKE SURE THE PICTURES THAT ARE TAKEN ARE IN FOCUS AND OF A SPOTLESS, UNCLUTTERED HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!! You would not believe what we saw for pictures on the MLS websites when we were looking for a house. Dirty laundry on the floor. Unmade beds. Dishes in the sink. Treat this like a bid deal photo shoot and consider each shot. Insist on seeing the pictures to make sure they are clear. Yes, I have seen blurry pictures in MLS listings. Take a lot of pictures, 20 to 30.
Good luck!
Are you using a realtor to list the house? If so let them tell you what you should do to sell it.
When I sold mine last year I had a list of items I thought I should do to help it sell. She told me only to do one of those tasks. In my case we had already moved out so the house was empty. She recommended we have it staged. That really helped. Plus with us gone, prospective buyers could come over whenever it was convenient. We didn't have to check schedules or vacate multiple times per week.
You never know what a potential buyer will want to do to the house, so it's pointless to put a lot of time, money and effort into fixes you think they might want.
Obviously you'll want to trim any unkempt bushes and trees, sweep sidewalks, cut grass, etc. But the best thing you can do is find a good realtor and listen to their advice.
When I sold mine last year I had a list of items I thought I should do to help it sell. She told me only to do one of those tasks. In my case we had already moved out so the house was empty. She recommended we have it staged. That really helped. Plus with us gone, prospective buyers could come over whenever it was convenient. We didn't have to check schedules or vacate multiple times per week.
You never know what a potential buyer will want to do to the house, so it's pointless to put a lot of time, money and effort into fixes you think they might want.
Obviously you'll want to trim any unkempt bushes and trees, sweep sidewalks, cut grass, etc. But the best thing you can do is find a good realtor and listen to their advice.
Tru Dat
...but if you are living there and want to sell it, there should never be a time when you are unwilling to get gone so they can look at it. We had 6 showings in the first 5 days and 10 showings in 13 days....with 4 kids who are home schooled. At the same time, a friend of ours was trying to sell her house and she kept telling her realtor that showings were inconvenient. Again, our house sold in 13 days and we have been in our new house since September and her house is still for sale.
Make sure the house is painfully clean (including closets, which should be about 1/2 empty) during each showing.
femurphy77
Grandmaster
The house needs to be spotless. Make it at least "appear" move in ready, fresh coat of paint in the various rooms, touch up the woodwork, clean stained concrete all those sniggling little things that you don't want to do to make it sell easier are the same things potential buyers are going to look at and not want to do either.
My girlfriend put in a lot of effort on our last house actually getting it up to date for US when we decided to move out of town. The one comment that every realtor that showed the house made was how ready it was to live in and that we had done a good job preparing it for sale.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS will make or break your sale. Unless you're pricing it as a fixer upper people aren't going to be interested in a house that needs a lot of work even if it is only nickel and dime stuff unless it's priced that way. On a positive note, depending on your price range, I was reading the other day that houses in the 120k to 185k price range are selling almost as fast as they can be listed, at least in the Indy area.
Good Luck!!
My girlfriend put in a lot of effort on our last house actually getting it up to date for US when we decided to move out of town. The one comment that every realtor that showed the house made was how ready it was to live in and that we had done a good job preparing it for sale.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS will make or break your sale. Unless you're pricing it as a fixer upper people aren't going to be interested in a house that needs a lot of work even if it is only nickel and dime stuff unless it's priced that way. On a positive note, depending on your price range, I was reading the other day that houses in the 120k to 185k price range are selling almost as fast as they can be listed, at least in the Indy area.
Good Luck!!
Curb appeal (landscaping well kept, exterior paint in good condition, etc) helps for sure. It gives buyers the mentality that "you care for the outside so the inside must be cared for also" before they even enter the home.
The pictures will get the most people in the door. Good pics sell homes. Bad pics scare people away. Use a wide angle lens to make rooms seem larger. If using a realtor, if the pictures stink, insist they hire a pro. A professional photographer and a virtual tour costs about $125. That's cheap considering your the commission the realtor gets. It will get them paid faster if you sell faster so if they hesitate, use that line.
I agree with the minimal stuff in the home-That' lets buyers see how their stuff is going to fit instead of trying to imagine the room without your stuff in the way.
No dishes in the sink or anywhere visible
No laundry visible-even closets
Beds made
Vaccum your way out and put the vac in your coat closet.
Crate any pets-even better, get them out completely during showings
Get your self out when the buyers want in. Plain and simple. If they have to reschedule, they may find another home to buy instead before they ever come back to yours. This leads back to ALWAYS keep it clean. They may be calling you from the driveway wanting to see it NOW (happens when realtors are showing another one on the same street and for whatever reason, didn't schedule yours into the mix)
A lot of the time, your first offer is the best one. Not ALWAYS true, but more often than not, it is.
Be realistic in your asking price. There is a shortage of listings in many places currently, and if your home isn't sold before mid april, you WILL have LOTS more competition.
The pictures will get the most people in the door. Good pics sell homes. Bad pics scare people away. Use a wide angle lens to make rooms seem larger. If using a realtor, if the pictures stink, insist they hire a pro. A professional photographer and a virtual tour costs about $125. That's cheap considering your the commission the realtor gets. It will get them paid faster if you sell faster so if they hesitate, use that line.
I agree with the minimal stuff in the home-That' lets buyers see how their stuff is going to fit instead of trying to imagine the room without your stuff in the way.
No dishes in the sink or anywhere visible
No laundry visible-even closets
Beds made
Vaccum your way out and put the vac in your coat closet.
Crate any pets-even better, get them out completely during showings
Get your self out when the buyers want in. Plain and simple. If they have to reschedule, they may find another home to buy instead before they ever come back to yours. This leads back to ALWAYS keep it clean. They may be calling you from the driveway wanting to see it NOW (happens when realtors are showing another one on the same street and for whatever reason, didn't schedule yours into the mix)
A lot of the time, your first offer is the best one. Not ALWAYS true, but more often than not, it is.
Be realistic in your asking price. There is a shortage of listings in many places currently, and if your home isn't sold before mid april, you WILL have LOTS more competition.
I love the wealth of knowledge from ingo, it is
vinyl siding so it will be washed, gravel driveway so there will b a fresh load of stone down. I'm also taking away that it needs to
be clean and empty. I got 6 acres, with 4.5 being woods, huge wrap around deck and totaly redone on the inside so I think80-85k might be an ok price will have to wait and see what my realtor says. Oh did I mention I can step outside and shoot off my back deck all day long. That should be a good selling point!
vinyl siding so it will be washed, gravel driveway so there will b a fresh load of stone down. I'm also taking away that it needs to
be clean and empty. I got 6 acres, with 4.5 being woods, huge wrap around deck and totaly redone on the inside so I think80-85k might be an ok price will have to wait and see what my realtor says. Oh did I mention I can step outside and shoot off my back deck all day long. That should be a good selling point!
Here's are some "Don'ts" from the picture department....and yes, this is from the house we ended up buying, but not based on these pics:
View attachment 36405 View attachment 36406 View attachment 36407
In addition to the bad pics, it had enough furniture for 3 houses in it.
We got a very good price on the house and I believe that the bad pics and some other items prevented more people from being interested. Works for me, I got a screaming deal.
View attachment 36405 View attachment 36406 View attachment 36407
In addition to the bad pics, it had enough furniture for 3 houses in it.
We got a very good price on the house and I believe that the bad pics and some other items prevented more people from being interested. Works for me, I got a screaming deal.
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Just to clarify, I assume you mean don't pass an offer up because you think a better one will come (as in a different buyer).
Not to be mistaken with a buyer is providing you their best number on their first offer, most buyers will negotiate.
You are correct. What I should have said is "Days on market has an inverse relationship with final sales price most of the time"
More days on market=lower sales price most of the time.
Maybe you should list it here. I bet a lot of INGOers would be interested in a setup like that. BTW, with that much land your price sounds way too low.
IndyGunworks
Grandmaster
Our house has been on the market for 20 days.... at 15 days in we accepted the first seller (third counter offer from them) at a price less than what we wanted, but still making a bit of money.... We don't want to be stuck with two mortgages though so we are extremely happy to get it sold this fast. Not much competition right now.
IndyGunworks
Grandmaster
Your guestimate pretty much means nothing.... Once the realtor is involved they will have a list of recently sold comparable, with the list price, selling price, how much went towards buyers closing costs, and days on the market. THAT will be what you base your asking price off of.
We are a good example... we expected we could get 105, but shot for a bit higher. listed it for 109,900.... we ended up accepting at 105, but with 2500 towards sellers closing. so we are only receiving 102,500..... but that's right in line with the other houses in the area.
We are a good example... we expected we could get 105, but shot for a bit higher. listed it for 109,900.... we ended up accepting at 105, but with 2500 towards sellers closing. so we are only receiving 102,500..... but that's right in line with the other houses in the area.
