Selling a home doesn’t require having a real estate agent anymore, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t take forethought.
While there are countless resources available to independent sellers, not everyone comes equipped with the experience to properly navigate the market. That doesn’t mean it’s time to throw in the towel. Following a few simple tips can help you better position your home for sale overnight.
1. Find a Way to Stand Apart
You aren’t trying to sell your neighbor’s home. You’re trying to sell yours—and that’s why taking steps to distinguish your home from the rest of the neighborhood can be a very effective tactic. That isn’t an invitation to be gaudy, but it is an excuse to do something different.
Whether it’s adding a little extra color to your exterior trim, building a new deck, or going all-in on the landscaping, there are plenty of options to make your house stand apart from the neighbors. Even small changes can transform your property into a home completely unique to the neighborhood.
2. Know the Balance Between Cluttered and Barren
Your goal is to make your house look as appealing as possible. And while closets and drawers that are stuffed to the brim with clothes aren’t going to look good, the opposite is true as well.
You can’t really express the space and potentiality of the room with nothing there for context. The simple fact of the matter is that people are going to look whether you want them to or not, so you want to make the space as appealing as possible. Try to keep drawers and closets both half full, and make sure that everything inside is neat and orderly to give off the best impression possible.
3. Keep Things Bright
Good lighting is one of the things that can make or break a space. If your home is dark and dank, there’s little to no chance that people are going to see what the potential of a few lamps can do.
Make the most of your natural lighting and exploit the lighting within your home as much as possible. A lighter and brighter space will make your home more inviting to prospective buyers, but it will also make your home feel more open and spacious.
It’s an effective way to draw attention to your house, and it can cost you as little as the price of a few high wattage bulbs.
4. Make the Most of Your Tools
Selling your home on your own means that you won’t have access to many of the resources that real estate agents do, but there are more and more tools available online. Flat rate multiple listing services offer one of the most cost-effective and far-reaching services for inexperienced home sellers, but we advise you to look closely at the options available out there.
There are a lot of MLS providers, but the best ones on the market come with additional tools. A good MLS can assist with anything from helping you through the paperwork to managing invoices to hosting virtual home tours.
5. Don’t Hold on For a Miracle
The longer your home stays on the market, the more its value diminishes. That’s true of any home, and it’s why you shouldn’t keep holding off for a long-shot bet. Finding an accurate valuation for your home is one of the most important things to get right because a valuation will help you price your home correctly from the start and not have to worry about diminishing returns. While you can tell a reliable real estate agent “Sell my house” and feel somewhat confident in the results, you’re going to have to pay a commission. Fortunately, FSBO options are more dependable than ever before.
