We have all seen the posts about how to prepare your home for selling by staging  and decluttering. But have you prepared YOU for selling your home? You have made the decision, you are ready to sell your home but are you???  Before you call a real estate agent follow these 5 Tips to Better Prepare YOU to Sell Your Home.

Tip 1: De-personalize your Home
Go around your home and remove items that are “special to you” or “have a memory” like family pictures, children’s artwork or vacation mementos.  These items don’t add any value to your home (sorry) and it will help to start detaching from your home. You can start to think of your home, as house, with walls & a ceiling and not your home filled with memories. Plus it gets you started on packing.

Tip 2: Research Home Values
We all want to get the most money for the sale of our home, but realistically what can you expect to get. Go online and do a little research. With sites like Realtor.com you can search out comparable homes in your area for sale and/or have recently sold. This will give you an idea of what your real estate agent may suggest you list your house for. Remember you can list your house for any price, but that doesn’t mean you are going to sell it for that price.

Tip 3: Search out potential Real Estate Agents
Real Estate Agents are not a one size fits all type deal. Some work commercial vs. residential. Do they work in your area? How long have they been an agent. What is their plan to get your house sold? Check out how their other listings look online, do you like the way they look? Also look at your house. Is your property unique; is it on a lake or have land? Maybe you need an agent that specializes in Lake Front properties. Ask agents to come to your house do a consultation, these are usually free, sometimes meeting a person face to face says a lot more than words. You don’t want to choose an agent and then find out they know nothing about houses like yours.

Tip 4: Have a Plan for Showings
This is one to save your sanity. Showings are usually scheduled with at least a 24 hour notice, but sometimes they can be last minute. The better prepared you are for a showing, the less stress for you. Plan how you want to leave your house looking everyday.  Are the beds made? Dishes clean? Have a plan for your everyday items. Toothbrushes that used to sit on the bathroom counter now go in a basket in the closet. Where is the dirty laundry going to hide? If you have pets in the home, plan what to do with them (and their stuff) during a showing. If at all possible do not leave them home for a showing, not everyone is a pet lover. With young children in the house I had different bed quilts that I put over the top of theirs, they were more neutral and generally pleasing. I also had white towels that only came out for showings.

Under that White quilt is Pink & Green!

White wash cloths in a basket on the counter.

Tip: Know your Numbers $$$
Know how much money you want to walk away with. The price you list your house for is not what you will get, in most cases. From list price to in your pocket, involves more than you think. There is the list price and the accepted price. Once you have an accepted price did the buyer request you pay for any inspections or their closing cost? The Home Inspection is usually paid for by the buyer. However if issues are found  & the buyer would like them fixed, the seller is responsible for paying. How much are you willing to pay for fixes? We had to put in a Radon Mitigation system (I had no clue what one was) it cost us over $1000! Do you have a mortgage or any liens on the property, these will be paid before you? Don’t forget about your closing cost; transfer fees, prorated taxes, title work, etc. We almost lost our sale over $3000, which is just peanuts when you think about the overall. Even with accepting the lower price we were still above the price we first thought about listing the house for.

Bottom line, the better prepared you are for selling your home, the more enjoyable of an experience it can be. There can always be unexpected things that come up but since you have everything else under control you can handle them like a champ.
Happy Home Selling!

Love Always … Tam