Timing is everything when it comes to selling a home. As winter thaws and spring begins to bloom, more people think about selling their homes, and we as realtors receive the most questions about where to start. Often, the best preparation begins long before spring has sprung, and involves more than simply sprucing up the look and feel of your home.
Here are a few key strategies you can employ this winter to ensure the best spring/summer home sale.
Find an agent you can trust.
When interviewing a potential agent, the conversation should flow both ways. A strong agent will ask plenty of questions, and by openly sharing your individual circumstances, your agent can then engineer a home-selling timeline and strategy that’s efficient, cost-effective and optimized to sell your home for the highest price possible.
Whether you’re a pro at negotiating or you would prefer to avoid negotiating altogether, finding an agent who can advise you in those situations is key. Ask questions about their negotiation style and experience, such as “How have you handled a difficult escrow and who benefited the most?” and “What types of clients have you negotiated with and what negotiation type do you prefer?”
Discuss your personal comfort level with negotiations, as well as what terms are most important to you. If your agent were, for example, to push you to negotiate more aggressively when you’re not comfortable losing a deal, you might lose more money and spend more months on the market than intended. An experienced agent will make negotiating feel relatively effortless, because they can anticipate potential problems and will have already discussed solutions with you. He or she should be able to de-stress an inherently stressful situation, effectively guiding you through all the details from start to finish.
Dive into the details.
Before you think about listing your home, ensure there are no issues with your home’s title and that there are no liens or encumbrances on the property. It’s also important to distinguish whether you’re selling a primary residence or an investment property. Speak with your accountant and financial advisor about the best strategies for any potential capital gains or losses, and ask whether you need to complete a 1031 exchange.
Check for any changes in your local legislation that may affect your sales strategy. For example, new laws making it easier to add accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in California might incentivize a seller to build an ADU before putting their home on the market. Your agent and sites like the National Association of Realtors (NAR) are excellent resources for staying abreast of legislative changes and hot topics.
Consider pre-inspections.
Sellers might assume home inspections should be at the discretion (and cost) of potential buyers, but pre-inspecting your home can help you gain a valuable advantage, since the party with the most information typically maintains control in negotiations. By pre-inspecting your home, especially if it’s an older home or a home that has experienced issues in the past, you can initiate an upfront conversation with serious buyers.
However, if the buyers conduct their own inspections, the sellers might end up in a situation where they feel held hostage or nickel and dimed due to unforeseen findings. If the issues are large enough and the sellers and buyers cannot agree on solutions, the buyers may walk away. Had the inspection been done prior to opening escrow, the seller could have saved time and – more often than not – money.
Remove emotion from remodeling.
Approach any home remodeling from a financial perspective. Talk to your agent and their brokerage firm about your financing options. Some firms are able to float sellers a percentage of their home value to make home improvements without any upfront or out-of-pocket cost.
Work with your agent to research your buyer demographic before making any improvements. Who is going to qualify for your home? What kind of lifestyle do they lead and what features are they looking for? By turning your house into a case study, you can make smart improvements that capitalize on your investment.
A strong agent will understand the dollar-for-dollar return on potential home improvements and offer objective, unbiased strategies for appealing to potential buyers. This can be difficult for sellers to do themselves, especially if they’ve spent many years or decades in a property.
Establish your priorities and prepare to be flexible.
Before your home is listed, your agent should walk you through your local purchase agreement and work closely to understand which terms are most important to you in your upcoming escrow. For example, can you do a quick close or will you need a longer escrow? Since your agent will have learned your individual risk tolerance and negotiation comfort level, they can better prepare you for the cadence of this process.
Flexibility in being able to show your home is a strategic way to increase competition so that your home ultimately sells for the highest price possible. Sellers should also work to eliminate any preconceived notions they have about certain buyers. For example, buyers offering cash aren’t necessarily better than buyers who opt to use financing.
Capitalize on certainty.
Ultimately, when people buy a home, they’re looking to make an investment in their future with as much certainty as possible. Therefore, making your home attractive to potential buyers may have much less to do with the tile you select when remodeling your bathroom and much more to do with how subtly and authentically you can present your home as a sound investment.
Be transparent. Buyers will automatically feel that a seller is more trustworthy if they set everything out on the table upfront, and trustworthiness goes a long way. Submitting pre-inspection reports and establishing a willingness to communicate with detail to serious buyers can ultimately be your home’s most attractive feature.