Selling your home can be a difficult task. But it doesn’t have to be. Deciding to sell your home because you want to downsize, upgrade, or simply need to live in a new place is a big decision and a huge life change.
It is one of the most stressful things that we as people can deal with in our lives. That is why we have come up with this guide to help you make specific decisions on what you can handle doing on your own and what you might consider hiring professionals to help you with.
Remodeling or Renovations
Remodeling or renovating a home is a huge project to undergo right before moving, however, they can prove to be quite beneficial during the selling process and help increase your home’s overall value.
First, you must understand that remodeling and renovating are not the same thing even though oftentimes the two terms are used interchangeably. Remodeling refers to changing the original design (ex: knocking down a wall to open up the space or altering the layout of your kitchen). Renovation is referring to more of a restoration (ex: replacing the cabinets without changing the layout, or replacing old flooring with new flooring).
There are several benefits to actually remodeling or renovating your property before selling. A project like this can increase the value of your home and may prove to provide a return on your initial investment into the project. It can also help your home sell more quickly. The longer your home sits while on the market the less desirable it will seem to potential buyers.
You must also ask if this is something you or a friend or family member can help you do on your own. Being able to update your home on your own will reduce the amount of labor costs you will need to pay. Even so you still need to look at if it is worth the time and money to renovate or remodel.
What can help you to determine if your time and money should be invested into a renovation is a “Subject To” appraisal. This is a simple way of appraising what your home is currently worth and then looking at what the difference would be if said renovation or remodeling was done. Even if you are in the middle of a renovation or remodel you can still have a “Subject To” appraisal done.
Home Maintenance
Every home has general upkeep as well as maintenance that must be taken care of before selling. Looking around your house to double check what will need to be done is going to be important. Depending, it could be beneficial to hire your own inspector to do a walk through of your home before a potential buyer does. If there are some simple quick fixes or possibly larger issues with the home it can completely derale the selling process, give the buyer leverage into dropping their offer dramatically, or potentially scare the buyer off completely.
Being able to have an inspector walk through the home so you can have an idea of what the state of your home is will help you better prepare your home to sell. Being able to do some smaller maintenance projects on your own can help you save quite a bit of money during the home selling process.
However, knowing your own limits is going to be key here. If there is a project that you are unsure about or you are worried you will not have the time to complete on your own, it is imperative that you don’t try to take on too much. Selling your home is stressful enough and you must remember not to spread yourself too thin.
You will also need to consider if the project is something you want to take care of. If it is small or if it is a property that you just want to get rid of you might want to think about leaving that up to the potential buyer to decide how to move forward and simply reduce the asking price of the home.
Cleaning Company
Day to day it is so easy to get stuck into a routine and forget about deep cleaning around your house. A lot of your home will collect dust and dirt in areas that you don’t think about and you completely forget to clean on a regular basis. That is why you should look into local cleaning companies to help you clean your home before selling.
Depending on how much time you have on your hands you might want to consider to do all of the cleaning yourself. We actually have a cleaning list that will help give you an idea of what things you need to clean around your home and what you need to keep clean while trying to sell your home.
Remember, the key is to not take on more than you can handle on your own. Try to see if you can get your friends or family members to help you with a deep clean if you don’t have the time to do it all yourself. If you can’t or don’t want to do the cleaning on your own a professional cleaning company can come in and get the deep cleaning done very quickly.
Staging Your Home
One part of selling your home that a lot of people don’t really think about is staging your home. It might seem unnecessary or lavish to some but staging your home has proven to work wonders. Hiring a staging company is one of the things that we recommend to our clients all of the time.
Having a professional come in and set up your home to look the best that it possibly can makes a world of difference to a potential buyer. They are experts at making a home seem warm and inviting, sleek, yet still cozy, and most of all simple.
The key to getting a potential buyer to put an offer in on your home is to get them to imagine themselves living in that home. The secret to doing that is simplicity paired with a dash of creativity of the space.
You can attempt to do this part yourself, however, remember it can be difficult to do this part all on your own. Home staging companies are experts at making your home look more desirable to potential buyers.
