Preparing to buy a house and all the organization, preparation, and planning of selling your current property can be exceedingly stressful and extremely exciting in equal measure.
Continue reading to discover four key things you have to know when preparing to sell your home.
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1. Always Hire a Reputable Real Estate Agent
First and foremost, even though the temptation to avoid incurring the fees associated with selling a property through a registered realtor is sometimes hard to ignore, the truth is that you absolutely must have one.
Real estate agents take between five and six percent of your home’s total sale, and if money is tight, this can seem astronomical. However, if you do not hire a realtor, you will find it much harder to set your own competitive and reasonable price, and you will be in much more danger when it comes to getting emotional about the sale.
2. Avoid Selling Your Home in the Winter
Another mistake many people make when placing their home on the market is to list the property during the winter months.
Winter is a notoriously slow time for real estate agents and mortgage lenders alike. Winter encompasses bad weather, making it harder for potential buyers to attend viewings. Christmas also falls in the season, which ties up people’s free time, so it is best to avoid it entirely.
Instead, unless there are any emergencies or other pressing mitigating circumstances which mean you must sell your house in winter, it makes far more financial sense to wait until the spring.
3. Don’t Forget To Look To The Future
Obviously, unless you are looking at taking a holiday of a lifetime around the world after the sale of your home is completed, you will also need a new place to live.
While you are simultaneously dealing with numerous tasks and commitments associated with selling your current property, be sure to contact respected and prominent mortgage lenders in Indiana to discuss preapproval for your next home.
It is worth pointing out that the longer the chain, which means the number of people involved in the purchase of one house and the sale of another, the more likely hold-ups and roadblocks are going to be. Buying and selling houses means that you need to be aware of the timelines of other people in the chain.
4. Be Thorough with Listing Photos & Decluttering
You will know how important the little details are, especially in terms of aesthetic appeal, when you attend an open house viewing. For this reason, you must spend time on decluttering your home.
Remove any overtly-personalized items, such as large canvases displaying family photographs, and ensure the floor spaces are as clutter-free as possible.
Additionally, whether you decide to ‘go it alone’ when selling your property, or else you are tasked with supplying interior photographs to your realtor, try to take as many pictures as you possibly can, and don’t be deceptive. You need to represent a fair image of your home so people know what to expect before viewing.