In 2018, over 5.5 million homes are projected to sell in the United States alone. That massive number represents people with a wide variety of motives to sell including taking advantage of an up market, to trying to relocate their family to a better school district, and beyond!

No matter what your reasons for selling your home, given the booming national economy, there’s no time better to maximize the return on your home investment than right now!

Just putting your house up for sale won’t guarantee you getting the best price, however, there are a few things you should make sure of before listing your home to maximize its value.

Below, our team goes over our top 5 things to take care of with your home prior to listing it!

1. Find an Excellent Real Estate Agent

There is nothing more important to do for your home before listing it than finding an excellent real estate agent.

Your real estate agent will be able to make recommendations on how best to present and price your home. They will be able to leverage their network to get a high stream of qualified buyers through your doors. They will be able to make your home selling experience as stress-free as humanly possible.

To get started finding the best real estate agent that services your home’s area, ask around. See if friends have worked with an agent they trust that they’re willing to recommend to you.

If you don’t have any friends with information on agents, look online. Review boards like Yelp, Google and Facebook should be able to turn you onto real estate professionals with glowing reviews.

Once you come up with a shortlist of qualified agents, contact them and get their perspective on your home. You’ll want to go with the agent that makes you feel the most comfortable, has a reasonable vision for your home’s marketing and sales outcomes and is the most trustworthy.

2. Sharpen Your Curb Appeal

The first thing prospective buyers will see when they look at your house is its facade. That facade encompasses the home’s face, front lawn, driveway, and other unique factors.

You taking the time to maximize how your home appears from its curb will not only make your home look excellent but will get more people through your doors during showings which means more competition and offers.

So plant some beautiful flowers. Consider repainting your front door. Touch-up your home’s address sign.

Little, low-cost fixes could equal a massive return on your investment!

3. Make Your Space More of a Blank Canvas

Over the years living in your home, you and your family have probably added a fair amount of personalized touches to your space. Things like photos, wall paintings, and knick-knacks hanging from your fridge.

While this adds comfort and familiarity to your living experience, prospective buyers seeing these personal touches can be a negative thing.

That’s because one of the most integral parts of the home buying process is that buyers have to be able to visualize themselves living in a home in order to feel inspired to put in a good offer.

If when viewing your home, the aesthetic says that a family already lives here, that can undermine a buyer’s ability to see themselves living in the house.

4. Make Minor Repairs

Making repairs can be very valuable to you as a seller. If a buyer walks through and sees minor house blemishes like a cracked tile or a broken door hinge, they may overestimate the costs of repairing those things and low ball their offer. They may even make inferences on the broader condition of your home that could scare them away from putting in an offer at all.

Because of that, you’ll want to work with your real estate agent to get some perspective on what small fixes you can make to your home that will net you money on the back end.

There is no one size fits all answer to what you should and shouldn’t fix as part of your first steps to selling a house. Just be sure that anything you do put money into is projected to pay for itself in the long run.

5. Make Your House Shine

This things to do before listing it tip is a no-brainer but unfortunately, is something many sellers miss.

Make sure your house is clean!

That means no objects strewn around the floor during showings, no dust on top of cabinets, squeaky clean bathrooms, a manicured backyard, and a tidy anything else you can think of.

Again, if buyers see just a few things out of place, they may make deeper inferences about the overall condition of your home. Don’t give people the opportunity to assume that your house is in worst condition than it is. Present them with a picture that gives them an impression that makes them feel confident in purchasing your home.

That cleanliness inspired confidence will go a long way in the price you can command!

Wrapping Up Important Things to Do with Your House Before Listing It

When you want to sell your home it can be tempting to get started listing it prior to making sure it’s in optimal selling condition. Doing that can be a costly mistake.

To make sure your house is maximized prior to listing it, we recommend taking to heart the tips we’ve listed above.

Make sure your house is depersonalized, clean, has great curb appeal, is reasonably repaired and has a great agent representing it.

With all of those factors in place, you can be confident that your house will get all of the attention it deserves!

If you’re looking for a trusted real estate agent to help you get the most value from your home sale, look no further than Team Barnum Real Estate. At Team Barnum, we handle our client’s home sale journey with incredible care and attention to detail.

Let us take our expertise and help you maximize your home’s value.

Contact us to learn more about what we can do for you today!