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As soon as you list your home for sale, you’ll start receiving calls and visits from interested buyers and buyers’ agents.
This means that by the time the place is listed, it needs to be in a prime shape. Not only that, but there are also some issues on which your buyers will definitely insist.
For instance, they may require to see the documentation and estimates, same as they will expect to enter a move-in-ready home.
With that in mind and without further ado, here are six things home sellers commonly forget to do before listing for a sale.
1. Find all the necessary documentation
A buyer will be interested in all sorts of data regarding the place and showing them is definitely more efficient than just hoping that they will take your word for it.
For instance, if there are any warranties that are still valid, it’s in your best interest to show them to the potential buyer.
If the place is older than 1980, you might want to get it inspected for asbestos and present the finds to the interested party.
Most importantly, you want to keep some of your latest utility bills, in order to show your buyer what the price of the upkeep actually is.
This is a gesture that not everyone remembers to insist on, which makes it a more meaningful sign of goodwill on your part.
2. Get all the estimates done
Another thing you need is the residential market valuations. While you’re at it, you can also get some estimates on how much money it would take to get the place into its ideal state.
If the price is not that high, you might mention this to a potential buyer. It goes without saying that performing these remodeling projects prior to the actual sale isn’t necessarily an ROI-worth move, nonetheless, in capable hands, a mere mention of them can turn into a powerful sales tool.
In a case where your home is particularly eco-friendly, you might want to make an estimate on this front, as well and present your audience with the figure of just how much this home stands to save them on the yearly basis.
3. Depersonalize the place
When receiving a potential buyer, you need to show them the place not as it is but as it could be. Framed pictures of the family of the previous owner may make the immersion somewhat harder.
After all, an empty place on the wall is a space where your buyer may get a chance to hang a memento of their own. By having this place filled, you’ll rob them of this amazing opportunity that goes strongly in your favor.
In the introduction, we’ve mentioned the importance of making the place move-in ready, which is a solid advice that you have to act upon.
Try to make a scenario where they know that they can realize their dreams as soon as possible.
4. Look for some professional assistance
Another thing you definitely need to keep in mind is the fact that a real estate industry may be too complex for someone who has no previous experience in it.
Just getting an accurate estimate for your home’s value won’t make that much of a difference in your ability to sell it. This is why you need some professional assistance.
It’s also important to understand that different areas, regions of Australia have different local real estate markets.
It goes without saying that areas like kitchen and bathroom add the most value to the place, however, it’s the exterior that plays the major part in the formation of the first impression.
Keep in mind that you only have one shot at making a good first impression. Sure, replacing your front door and windows, as well as doing a façade cost an arm and a leg and may not yield a positive ROI.
On the other hand, replacing a mailbox, pressure cleaning your home’s façade, getting a custom house number and mowing your front lawn are all inexpensive improvements that give a disproportionately large ROI.
5. Send your family away when expecting potential buyers
Like we said in the part with depersonalization, you want a maximum immersion, which means a minimal presence in the home, as well as a minimal noise level.
This is why you need to be the only person in the house to greet potential buyers and show them around. Keep in mind that this is an optional piece of advice, as well as something that not everyone will agree upon, yet, there’s a certain logic to it.
In fact, finding an excuse to leave them alone for a couple of moments may prove to be immensely helpful.
6. In conclusion
At the end of the day, there’s yet another hint you might want to listen to. Namely, once you take the pictures of the place, you want to wait for a couple of days and then try looking at them as if they were someone else’s home.
An impression that you get while looking at them will be much closer to those sensations that potential buyers will experience, even though you’ll still be somewhat biased. This idea alone might turn out to be incredibly beneficial in your overall attempts to sell the place.
