How To Sell Your House

So you finally make the big decision to sell your house.  So what next?  It's the realtors job right?  Well there are some things you can be doing to help sell your house quickly and for top dollar. 

Number one #1 Curb Appeal.  This means when a potential buyer drives up to your house, how does it look?  Is the grass cut and trimmed?  Or is the driveway shoveled and walkways cleared?  Garbage and other sticks and leave even dog poop, cleared away?  How about clean windows?  All these things can help form an opinion of your house before they even walk in the front door. 

Number #2 Clean Your House.  No dishes in the sink, or drying on the counter.  Floors swept and vacuumed.  Counter tops cleared.  Toilet seat down.  Showers cleaned, towels put away.  Here a big one!  No dishwashers running or washing machines, dryers.  You want your house quiet and peaceful.  Not machinery running.  No offensive smells and that can include over senting rooms.  Sometimes they can smell so sented you just wanna get out.  Don't overdo the smells.  Nothing is best.  You can't over clean your home.  You can underclean and that shows you don't care about your house.  

Number #3 De-Clutter.  Half of the stuff in every room can go.  Magazines and magazine racks, newspapers, photo albums.  Personal Photos.  Extra chairs and ottomans.  Move these things to the garage or into storage.  Bedrooms, put away DVD's and laundry.  Clean out closets to half full.  Move season ending coats, boots, hats, gloves away.  You should open your closets and they are half empty and showing signs of lots of extra space.  Office desks need to be cleared.  Storage rooms organized and tidy.  Again it shows pride of ownership when you have cleaned and organized things.  People will be opening closets and looking in storage places.  Help your realtor sell your home. 

Number #4 Communicate Your Schedule.  Once your house is on the market making your house available for as many showings as possible is important.  Sometimes people notice your house is for sale while looking at another house in the neighbourhood and they naturally want to now see your house.  When they make a last minute request to see your house try your best to make it work.  Your not the person making the appointment they are.  I can't tell you how many times I have asked for a showing and the seller tells me "ask them for next friday at 2pm please'.  That never works.  The buyer makes the request and the seller responds.  Sometimes it won't work but that should be the acception and not the rule.  When you leave in the morning, your house should be good to show, if a request comes in.  If you have a pet often your realtor can help out with that.  I have made lots of new pet friends taking dogs for walks while a house is being shown.  Communicate what your schdule is and then plans can be made to work around it.  Specially if you are a shift worker. 

Realtors take pride in selling your home.  We want to do the best we can for our clients.  This means selling your house quickly and for the best price possible.  Someitmes we give advice on what to move or even how to better stage your home.  Keep in mind we have been selling homes and have experience.  We aren't trying to inconvenience you, we are trying to help.  Often it can be hard for a realtor to tell a client to clean better.  We don't wanna offend you.  But trust me, a dirty house isn't easy to sell.  And providing feedback of your house is too dirty is hard to give.  Honesty is important however, so again don't take feedback personally.  However if your being told to clean the dog poop out of yard, I suggest you do it.  I have taken vacuums and cleaning supplies to houses trying to help out.  But there is only so much your realtor can do.  In the end.  If your house isn't selling 100% of the time you need to look at the price.  The market might have slowed down or you might just be reaching to high and need to adjust.  There is more to selling your house then simply putting up a sign.  So plan to work together with your realtor and you will achieve the best results.  Happy selling.