Moving is an incredibly exciting event. After all, a world of new opportunities awaits, whether you’re moving to a new town or around the corner. And sometimes you need to sell your home quickly.
However, that’s not to say it isn’t stressful, either. In fact, in a recent survey, 57% of those interviewed considered moving house to be the most stressful thing they’d ever experienced – ranking it higher than both job interviews and starting a family.
This often comes down to the fact that selling your house ahead of the big move can be a drain on your time, energy and money – leading to an increase in stress and other negative emotions.
Four Reasons why you may struggle to sell your home quickly.
There are many reasons why you may struggle to sell your home quickly. For example, this could include:
- The state of the property market
- Buyer demand in your area
- You’ve set the asking price too high
- Your home is in need of repairs
However, there are certain steps you can take to remedy the above issues and ensure that your home sells as quickly as possible. This way, you can focus on redecorating your new home!
Top tips to sell your home quickly.
Whether you’re working independently or with a real estate agent, there are many different ways in which you could speed up the sales process. For example, you should:
- Take care of your outdoor spaces
- Stage your home
- Carry out any necessary maintenance
- Think about curb appeal
- Repaint the walls
Take care of your outdoor spaces.
According to a recent study, approximately 70% of home buyers would pay more for a property with an outdoor green space. However, these spaces must be kept in reasonable condition – as an overgrown garden covered in weeds and leaves will hardly win over any buyers. In fact, they’d view it as another job to tackle upon moving in, which could encourage them to look elsewhere.
As such, if you want to sell your home quickly, ensure you take good care of your outdoor spaces, keeping them neat, organized and presentable. For example, you may want to work with a tree service company that can trim back overgrown branches and leaves, ensuring your garden looks great and gets plenty of sunlight, too.
Stage your home.
Knowing how to stage your home means that you can take fantastic real estate photos while also impressing potential buyers who come to visit your property. When staging your home for a quick sale, it’s crucial that the buyer can envision themselves living in your home – which means that you should depersonalize the space where possible.
For example, you should remove all clutter and personal artefacts like family photographs. This way, they are walking through a ‘blank canvas’ during their visit, making it easier for them to picture how the house would look if it were their own instead of feeling as though they’re taking a tour of someone else’s home.
On a similar note, you should also make your home clean and tidy ahead of viewings, as a dirty or disorganized space could discourage viewers. After all, it could indicate that you do not take good care of your home, meaning they’d feel as though they’re going to discover a range of maintenance issues when moving in.
Carry out necessary maintenance.
As mentioned above, maintenance issues can slow down the sale of any home – no matter how nicely decorated it may be. As such, you should carry out any essential home maintenance tasks before selling your property.
While this does mean that you’ll incur some additional expenses, whether you’re cleaning out gutters or repairing damaged ceiling tiles, well-maintained properties also sell for considerably more money than those that are falling into disrepair. As a result, you can likely earn back any money you spend on maintenance by upping your asking price to reflect this work.
Think about curb appeal.
Working on your curb appeal will also speed up the sales process. This is because the exterior of your property is often the first thing a buyer sees – both online and in person. As a result, this will contribute quite significantly to their “first impression” of your home – and we all know just how important first impressions can be. After all, if they enter the viewing with a negative mindset, they’re more likely to look for and acknowledge flaws than if they were impressed before they even stepped out of the car.
Fortunately, there are many different ways in which you can enhance your curb appeal. For example, you could:
- Repaint your front door and window frames
- Repair/Repaint your fence
- Do some gardening
- Clear your driveway
Repaint the walls.
If you’re going to be moving within the next few weeks or months, it’s unlikely that you’ll want to spend a lot of money or time focusing on redecorating your home. However, it’s equally important that these spaces are as visually appealing as possible – especially if you’re looking for a quick sale.
Fortunately, you do not have to redecorate your home from top to bottom to make it look as appealing as possible to buyers – you just need to ensure it looks fresh, clean and welcoming. One way you can achieve this goal is by repainting the walls, which removes signs of wear and tear and makes the space look much nicer. When repainting your walls, it’s best to opt for a ‘planer’ color, such as white or cream.
Final Thoughts.
While the speed at which your home sells largely depends upon the housing market and buyer activity within your area, following the above steps can help speed up the otherwise time-consuming and laborious process. This is because it means you’re working to appeal directly to buyers by helping them see the potential within your home.
Remember, you should also be open to negotiation when selling your home. Sometimes, lowering the asking price slightly could mean that you can move into your new property quicker, meaning it’s a sacrifice that could prove to be worthwhile.