5 Tips to Sell Your Home Fast
Hello friends! Happy May Day! I hope you are enjoying your Spring! We are still waiting for it to show us it’s true colors. We have had a lot of cool temperatures around here, but I am hopeful for a warm-up coming soon. Fingers crossed. This month, I can’t help but think what we were doing last year at this time. We had just broke ground for our new home and were getting ready to sell our old one. I was pretty nervous about selling, it’s a nerve-wracking process, especially with four kids, as so many of you know. We decided to do everything we could to make it presentable to potential buyers. Once we took the plunge and put our house on the market, within 2 hours we had an offer above asking price. There were a lot of factors that went into that happening, but today I wanted to share some things that we did along with my top 5 tips for selling your home fast.
1. Inviting Paint Colors
As you well know, I love paint and how it can affect the look and feel of your home. When Jason and I were looking at houses to buy, paint was something we could both look beyond and know that wasn’t a make or break deal for us. If we didn’t like the color, we would repaint it ourselves. I know though that many people aren’t as willing to buy a home if it has funky paint colors. One, because it changes the feel and look of the whole house and makes other elements of the home look bad. And two, because they aren’t willing to put the work in themselves. A lot of people want move-in ready homes. If you are thinking about selling, make sure it has paint colors that are neutral and pleasing to the eye. Here are the colors we decided to go with:
Body: Functional Gray by Sherwin-Williams
Trim: Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams
Door paint: Wythe Blue by Benjamin Moore
Accessible Beige by Sherwin-Williams for our main color.
Vapor Trails by Benjamin Moore for our kitchen and dining room.
Wheat Bread by Behr for our master bedroom.
Sea Salt by Sherwin-Williams for our laundry room.
Rainwashed by Sherwin-Williams for our girls room.
Repose Gray by Sherwin-Williams for our bathroom.
To see more photos of our previous home, see here. Lots of before and afters. 😉
2. Clear the Clutter
My second biggest tip is to clear the clutter. With four kids and not a lot of closet space, our house seemed to accumulate a lot of “junk”. You know what I’m talking about. Toys, magazines, books, extra shoes, office supplies, even furniture, that didn’t seem to have a place to go.
Before we put it on the market, we rented a storage unit and filled it with non-essential things that we didn’t need to live at the time. We cleared out closets, bedrooms, and our garage to make it look like we had plenty of space. If it looks like you have way too much stuff and not enough storage space for it, that is going to turn buyers off. People want storage and space, so make your home present that way.
The girls and Dad in our storage unit’s moving truck. 🙂
3. Time of Year
We had a fantastic realtor that told us that the best time to sell your home is in early spring. The reason? There isn’t a lot of inventory during the winter months, which means there are not a lot of options for buyers. Once the weather turns warmer, buyers get more anxious to find something. We put our house on the market March 12th and were under contract that night. I know others in our area that sold right at the same time, very quick. As the months went on, I had a lot of friends with desirable houses that had a hard time selling. I think time of year is vital if you want to sell your home quickly.
4. Curb Appeal
Make the outside of your home inviting to those who drive up. We were told that a buyer makes a decision within the first 30 seconds whether or not they want to live there. Clean up the weeds, mow the grass, plant a few flowers or bushes, makes sure light fixtures work, add a cute wreath to your door, sweep off the driveway and porch. Make it inviting to whomever drives up, because they are either going to think, yes I want to go inside, or no, that looks awful. Right? You get the picture. 😉
5. Price it Right
Last of all, price it right. If you have a realtor, they will do price comparisons in your neighborhood to see what other houses similar to yours have sold for. Make sure they do their homework. The worst thing you can do is to price it too high. Once people see that the price has been lowered, there is something that tells the buyer (even if isn’t true) that something is wrong with the house because the price has been lowered. Ask yourself, what would I pay for my house if I was searching? And would I think that this is a ridiculous amount of money to pay?
Selling can be a headache and very stressful. I hope to never to do it again. 😉 But in all seriousness, I hope that these 5 tips for selling your home fast will help you in the process. Once our home was under contract, I felt a huge pressure off of me, and it was nice to just ENJOY our last couple of months in our home that we made so many memories in. It is my hope that can happen for you as well.
Also, checkout:
Four Paint Colors That Will Help Sell Your Home (recommended from a realtor)
Best Paint Colors to Sell Your Home
Thank you for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day!