5-Point Checklist to Follow Before Listing Your Home

Deciding to sell your home can be a nerve-wracking moment for some and a total feeling of relief for others. Regardless of your emotions about the process, there are plenty of things that must be done before you list your home for sale and begin hosting open houses and showings. As you begin to transition into the next part of your life, it is important to consider what will make your home more attractive to buyers and how you can promote a quick, profitable sale. Below, you’ll find our five-point checklist for preparing to list your home on the market.

Securing a real estate agent that understands your needs as a seller and has experience selling other homes in your area makes for a much smoother sale. Selling your home is a complex deal, and real estate agents know how to prepare for it to make the entire process less burdensome.

Listing your Roslindale home can be done quickly with a real estate agent at your side. With low market inventory and growing property values, many buyers out there would love to purchase your property. All they need is someone to connect them to it. That is where your agent comes in. A real estate agent can take care of all the time-consuming aspects of selling and listing a house, like filing paperwork and conducting showings. Though Roslindale real estate, in particular, tends to stay on the market for about 20 days or less, a successful real estate agent can find you a buyer that is willing to compete for your home and purchase it in record time.

Clearing the interior of your home of all personal belongings is one of the most important steps in preparing to list. A house that is filled room-to-room with the current owner’s things can make a buyer feel as if they are getting ready to purchase a space that doesn’t quite feel like their own. You want potential buyers to be able to see themselves and their families growing in the home, and that can be difficult when your personal items are in clear view.

Take the time to go through your belongings and figure out what you’d like to take to your new home. Donate, recycle, or throw away any other items you feel will not benefit you in the future. Any items that you choose to keep should be placed in a storage unit or in your new home to prevent damage and further clutter during open houses.

Deep cleaning the home is a great opportunity to give your home staging team a totally blank canvas to work with. It also shows buyers that you genuinely care about the home you are listing, which helps them develop a more intense emotional connection with the space. Hiring a professional cleaning service to take the load off your hands is the best idea for cleaning large properties. Have your cleaning team focus on areas with a lot of foot traffic during showings and open houses, like bathrooms, primary bedrooms, and kitchens.

Appliances, cabinetry, and floors are definitely aspects of the home that should be in good condition for selling. Chipped tiles and a shoddy stove will make your house feel unkempt and much less valuable. On top of that, many buyers do not want to have to make large repairs to the home before moving in.

The good part is, making repairs to prominent parts of the house, like floors, can yield a pretty decent ROI. Sellers can expect a 70% ROI when repairing the floors in their home, and an entire kitchen remodels can produce a similar return. However, don’t make unnecessary upgrades simply because you believe a bit of glamour will elevate your home’s value significantly. Perform market research in your area and see what similar homes have in terms of features and appliances. From there, you can decide what repairs and renovations are worth it.

The exterior of your home is basically one big welcome mat. It is the first thing your buyers see when they arrive and the last thing they will see when they leave. You want to make sure that, at any time of day, your home reflects the charm and warmth you originally fell in love with. Giving the exterior a paint refresh is a profitable choice that will immediately draw increased interest to your home. Painting the outside of a home can increase the value by $7,571 and offers a 152% ROI. You should steer clear from painting your home with funky, eclectic colors. Though they can draw attention, it’s not always positive and can deter buyers who are otherwise enamored by your home.

Enhancing the landscaping is another way to maximize curb appeal. A manicured lawn paired with gorgeous, blooming seasonal flowers can really turn a house into a home. Coupling pristine landscaping with warm exterior lighting can be a really great selling point during even showings as well.

Buyers enjoy a well-staged home. Having an idea of what furniture fits where and what types of decor will complement the natural elements of the home creates a meaningful connection between the buyer and the house. Hiring a staging team to design the interior of your home is helpful, as they understand what works spacially and how to organize the home in a way that does not overwhelm buyers. Using a staging service is a common practice, with 24% of sellers opting to do so.

Ideally, you should plan on investing about 1% of the sale price into staging the home. Those who are worried about spending the extra cash can feel confident knowing staging can help sell your home three to 30 times faster and yield an ROI of 5% to 15% over the listing price.

Moving on from your Roslindale home is bittersweet, but with the right real estate agent, you can feel reassured in your decision to do so. Collaborating with Prism Real Estate Group can make the entire selling process a stress-free experience.

You will be well-informed about the transaction every step of the way without having to focus a disproportionate amount of your time on the sale. Prism’s team of eager Roslindale Real Estate Agents have experience working in the Boston area and know just what it takes to receive the best offer for your home. Reach out to Prism Real Estate Group for more valuable home-selling tips and tricks!