Happy closing day to us! We sold our house in the first showing, and I truly think these 12 tips will help you sell your house fast. Yesterday I blogged the goodbye to our house complete with before & after photos of the entire house decorated & emptied. You can go {here} to see that post. I am back today with a few tips on how to sell your home fast. I have been getting a lot of questions about how we sold our house, & if I didn’t answer your question in this post, leave a comment below! Before I start with all of that I wanted to say that this is what worked for us & it worked well. We put our house on the market for sale by owner & we had our first showing the next day & that couple put an offer in & we went under contract right then. We were so shocked at how quick it went & so happy to have a buyer. Of course the time under contract is always a little stressful so I waited to share my tips & tricks, but here are just some of the things we did to get our house sold in just one showing.
1. Declutter.
This step is HUGE. Go through your closets, drawers, garage, & other places in your home & sort through things you want to keep and things that you want to get rid of. BE PICKY! Remember once you sell the house you will have to pack your “keep pile” up. Are the items worth it? Are you really going to use the items? When you get your keep pile all set up, organize these items in their correct spots. hang all your clothes up neatly, organize your drawers with baskets, and just make sure everything has it’s place neatly in your home. We also invested in a storage unit for all of the items we wanted to keep, but didn’t want in the house. This was mostly garage items, large items, & things like winter clothes that were not being used at the time. This is also great because you are already getting things packed up & out of the house ready to move!
2. Sell/donate All unwanted items.
Make sure to start doing this step far in advance to assure all these items will be out of your house. Have a garage sale or utilize yard sale websites to list unwanted items from furniture, clothes, home decor, & other household goods. If you don’t want to take the time to do this or if you want to just give the items away, than you can donate them at your local donation drop off. Again, with this step be picky. Ask yourself if you really want the times in your next home.
3. Neutralize your home.
This is a huge step! Most people get distracted by loud decor, bold paint colors, & taste specific decor. They can’t look past that to see the good bones of the home. We painted all our walls a neutral color {different neutrals throughout the house} to really neutralize the home. We also removed most of the bold taste specific decor to allow potential buyers to envision our home as theirs. We used neutral pillows, throws, and other decor to still make the home cozy & inviting while still remaining super neutral. This step also includes packing away collections, excess family photos, anything on the fridge, & any of your personal items like toiletries out of plane site. One main thing about neutralizing your home as well is, do not put away all your decor, the buyers want to see a staged home & not a bare house. Show them your pretty decorated house minus the clutter.
4. Deep clean the entire house.
This is a great step to do after/during your declutter phase. Clean those baseboards, shampoo the carpets, dust your ceiling fans, scrub floors, clean closets, & go through your whole house to be sure you have hit every place that you may have forgotten about. Don’t forget your garage! Potential buyers want to see every area of your house so make sure every corner of your home is looking clean & show ready at all times.
5. Repair any issues with the home.
Need walls painted, holes patched, flooring fixed, doors repaired? Do all of that before a showing! You don’t want to scare away potential buyers with any necessary repairs big or small. That poorly painted wall could be the difference between a sale or your house sitting on the market for months!
6. Fix up the yard.
Be sure the curb appeal of your home is looking good & that from the minute potential buyers pull up to your house they are interested. Mow the grass, edge the lawn, pick weeds, & make sure your shrubs and flowers are healthy. Don’t forget the backyard either. You never know what is at the top of your buyers house “must haves list” is & it could be a pretty backyard!
1. Make sure your house is spotless.
Wipe down all your counters, clean the toilets, clean appliances, vacuum, mop, wash windows & mirrors, & double check for any messes through out your home before you show your house. A clean house is way more appealing and helps show buyers the potential of the home.
2. Make the house smell good.
A warm inviting smell can give off good vibes to potential buyers & make them feel at home. Lighting candles, using a scentsy, making coffee, air fresheners, & even an open window weather permitting are a great way to add a comforting smell to your home to really appeal to potential buyers.
3. Let the light in.
Open up all drapes and blinds to add lovely natural lighting into your home. Turn accent lamps on & any pretty lights around your house. Set the mood with your lighting and use it to your advantage. Just like smell, lighting can really make a buyer feel at home.
4. Stage your home.
Before the buyers come, be sure your home is staged to appeal to buyers. Remove any unwanted items from view, make sure your whole house is organized. Place throw pillows around your home with throws & home decor to really amp up your showing & set your home apart from other houses the buyers have looked at.
5. Take your pets with you.
Nobody wants to hear barking while they are looking at a home. Take your little fur babies with you while the buyers are looking at your home. Because they are so cute, pets are simply a distraction & while you are showing your house you want to remove any distractions from that lovely house of yours.
6. Play music.
So we have smell, lighting, & now we need sound. Play some soft peaceful music on low to set a happy calm mood in your house to make the buyers really feel at home. Music can really change someones mood & maybe even just put them in the mood to buy a house!
I could keep going with tips, but these are the main things I followed right before we put our house up on the market. I seriously hope these tips help you in some way now or in the future & I hope you have the best of luck when selling your home. Again, if you have any questions of how we sold our home, leave them in the comments below, find me on instagram, or chat with me on Facebook. Do you have any tips? Leave them below!
Want some tips on packing? Click {here} to get 8 amazing tips you may have never thought of!
Great info! Taking time to stage your house is a definite game changer when it comes to impressing the buyers in your market.
Your decorating and staging is fantastic! Just came across this post as we are considering selling our house. I need you as my neighbor! All the best to you.
Great post!! But I do not have that gorgeous of furniture!! I would just be looking at your stuff! LOL I would put an offer in, with the stuff staying! LOL Gorgeous home!
Wonderful. Glad to see its not always about the “market” and that personal touch and good first impressions can go a long way with home buyers.
Liz,
Thank you for this post. We have had our home up for 5 days as “For Sale By Owner” and are getting a lot of pressure from realtors who want to help us. No offense to realtors, but it’s encouraging to see that you had quick success on your own! I’m a Michigan girl too – in Arizona now. Not Missing the Snow.
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These tips are great and useful! Selling homes quickly for the desired price is never an easy task. Hopefully these will come in handy for those in need of selling their home quickly..
Great advice, we didn’t sell my Mum’s home because we had tenants in there with a ton of stuff! They were friends waiting to buy a place, and they had way too much, taking the photos was a mission.
Also I’d take away all doggie items such as bowls and pet beds for the viewing, as anyone with allergies or who hates doggy smells will just walk out (my hubby does that). BTW what is the colour of your siding? I love it.
Great article
There is great helpful! Thanks for posting such a great very effective and valuable article for us.
Sell Your House Fast
How To Sell Your Home Fast
Love your place! We are just starting the process of putting our house on the market. Great Decorating tips and ideas. Where did you get the & wall art?? I love that!
Hi Liz,
When I put my home on the market back in January, I used this article as a point of reference and guess what? I sold my home within 3 days. Thank you so much for this! On my own blog, I actually just wrote my own piece on staging a home to sell and linked back to this post and your blog. You have a beautiful site, by the way.
Thanks!
Erica
designingvibes.com
WOW!! Gorgeous home and thank you so much for the tips. where did you get that Michigan pillow, its so adorable!
Hi there, I love your post, thank you so much for the lovely tips, your home is gorgeous!!! Where can i buy that Michigan pillow, i want one so bad!! Pretty please and thank you.
Great tips!!! Home sellers are very much tensed while selling their home and these tips are like stress re -leasers. Also while selling home we should always contact cash home buying companies as they buy home fast and in any condition. They give cash immediately after buying your house. What do you think?
Nice job. We did similarly – all of these things before the Listing Agent ever set foot on the property, and you certainly want it all done before they come out to take pictures for any advertising campaign and some agents in some locations are the photographer and they want to take pics while they are there on the initial visit. Get your house ready before you ever call an Agent and have it spotless on the day they first show up as well!!! Our home sold very quickly – 7 days from listing and at a better price than we originally thought it would go for.
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