So, I have now been an agent for about a year & a half now. Mainly, I have been a “buyer’s agent”. Meaning that I have been on the buyer’s side searching for homes for my clients. It’s been awesome, I’ve really enjoyed it & will for sure continue to do this. However, with almost 20 years in marketing & advertising, a real estate license & 1 1/2 years in the biz – LISTING (advertising & selling) houses is right up my alley. Because I’ve been so busy running around with buyers, I haven’t gotten a chance to look for listings. However – just recently, I decided it was time for ME to make a move myself & started building a new home for our growing family. And well, because I had to sell my home…guess what? I got my 1st listing – MY OWN HOUSE 😉. And you know what? For my 1st time it was a complete success 🙌🏾!
We not only got 12 offers within 2 days… they had actually started rolling in BEFORE the house was even on the market. The 1st being a cash offer which is actually quite common as investors seem to generally buy with cash. With the guidance of my Team Leader, we decided to go with an offer $5K above list price, offering $5K above appraisal (which means that if the appraisal was to come in lower than list price, they would still pay $5K above that), plus buyer’s agent willing to take 2.5% commission (I had offered 3%) to sweeten the deal. There were quite a few offers that actually offered more $ – however, this offer in particular was the strongest all the way around in regards to how solid it was. We are now closing almost 2 weeks EARLY on the house at $4K ABOVE list price 🥳! The best part of this process was how extremely SMOOTH everything has gone. And I will tell you why in another post before this one turns into a friggin’ novella lol. First, more about how we made this happen.
The market right now is CARAAAZZYYY – people getting multiple offers within minutes of listing. I get it. It’s not JUST my shkizzles: a background primarily in art, design, & advertising, my excruciatingly annoying attention to detail, being willing to put in the extra physical labor involved, & strong personal & team support. It IS absolutely the market right now with houses flying off the shelves like toilet paper in 2020. But…like I said – even with how hot the market is, if you ain’t doin’ it right, a house that could sell well above list price, could very well sit on the market for days, even weeks – which makes it even tougher to sell at that point. Without prepping the property, marketing the hell out of it, & paying special attention to details it could be the difference of selling at list price vs. selling above list price. And we ALL want to make the $ in the least painful way – correct?
Ok, so on to the whole process & what my team & I did to get multiple offers within hours of it being advertised. I realize there is a lot. But that’s what your agent is there for. They should be available to help you with every stage from the very beginning to the very end.
STEP 1: Should you stay or should you go?
Do you want to live in the house while it’s being shown or are you able to move out & show while vacant? My advice to you, if you are looking to sell FAST, is to move out. Do whatever it takes to get the hell outta Dodge before putting your house on the market. This I know can be a big pain in the rear end. BUT, you will be thankful you did. I’ll tell you 5 Reasons to Move Out When Selling Your Home here.
STEP 2: Price it right
I cannot stress enough how CRUCIAL it is to price it right. The basis of this will be determined by “comps” – short for “comparable sales” in your neighborhood. I also cannot stress enough how vital it is to listen to the advice of your agent & what they believe the best price would be. If you price too high, & it sits there because of it, you’re gonna be kicking yourself 3 weeks into listing it when you need to do a “price decrease”. If you price too low, just like the same shirt tagged at $20 in one store & $40 in another, it’s gonna look like the cheap one in the cheap store. Value your home. Remember why YOU bought it in the 1st place. Most importantly, go by the comps with consideration to upgrades, current market trends, price per/sq. ft in your area, & other variables you should discuss with your agent.
STEP 3: Getting rid of stuff &/or just moving the hell out
If you ARE planning to stay while showing your property. Get rid of as much as you can or put it all in storage. Our goal here is to create an atmosphere of sterility & vacancy for the prospective new home owner. THAT is what sells. Unless your home looks like a model home & you’re able to keep it looking like one while it’s on the market. You need to get your house feeling empty & like a blank canvas ready for it’s new owner to make it feel like it’s THEIR home.
Like I said above, we got out & found temporary housing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no walk in the park to move into temp housing & live out of boxes, but I was not about to attempt to show while living there & I sure as hell knew no one would wanna live there with all our stuff there. I was thinking about leaving the big furniture items there & “staging” it – however, I don’t know if you’ve seen homes professionally staged or not – it’s an art & I wasn’t about to spend time watching a YouTube tutorial on how to make the perfect bed (Btw, I was actually going to do that🙄🤣).
Ideally, MOVE THE HELL OUT. If not, MOVE AS MUCH OF YOUR CRAP OUT LOL.
STEP 4: CLEAN IT UP
Get it PROFESSIONALLY cleaned unless you are able to clean it professionally yourself! Get it looking & feeling as clean as a model home. Get your carpets professionally cleaned before deciding to replace. Clean it down to every detail including the baseboards, rust stains left on patio (I had those which btw do not use lemon juice to remove🙄 which just makes it worse), inside of cabinets, appliances…the exterior including your front & back yards: weeding, cleaning up pet leftovers if you know what I’m sayin’…everything. While doing this, make note of missing tiles on exterior walls, bare spots in yard, broken locks in house, missing anything anywhere. Because next….
STEP 5: Evaluate what needs to be repaired or replaced & do it!
It’s super important here to be practical, to be smart, & to be wise. Think like an advertiser, not as someone who has lived in the home & knows that one stain in that one area of the carpet won’t come out. Potential buyers know your house is “used”. They know someone has lived there & don’t expect perfection. If they did, they should buy new! However some repairs are unavoidable & a must which could potentially cost you thousands of dollars if not repaired from the get-go. Whatever the case is do not let this stop you from making the move. Your agent is there to help you through the process & can advise you on what you need to do or not do. I have a few tips here that may help you to figure it out!
STEP 6: Stage it & Freshen it up!
Ideally, we would want hire a professional staging company. If that is not affordable (it wasn’t for me!), little things like a flower pot on the front patio, artificial plants throughout, fresh white new bath towels in the bathroom, a “Home Sweet Home” sign…little touches here & there really create a warmth in a sterile vacant home.
Importantly, you want it to SMELL good! No matter what anyone said, even after cleaning, getting carpets cleaned, I could still smell the Indian cooking lingering throughout my house. So, I opened up windows, got some cheap plug in fragrance thingies & they instantly freshened up the house. Lysol spraying it throughout freshened the place up even more adding that extra layer of cleanliness. Btw, I went to my house the other day to get some information on one of the appliances we need to repair for the client – & it smells SO GOOD, so fresh. You’d never even know there was in Indian living there;)
STEP 7: Get PROFESSIONAL photos taken of your property
I can’t stress ENOUGH how IMPORTANT this is. It is the difference between people not showing your house & showing your house. Period. When I have a client looking for a home, I literally will not even email properties that have horrible or low quality photos to my buyers.
Also, you seriously want showcase the property to get the most buyers looking at it as possible. This is ALL about MARKETING. You are basically marketing a product which is your house! You must create an experience from beginning to end – & that experience begins with the pictures.
You may ask: “Why are photos so important when people are coming to see the house in person?” Because m’dear, you will be advertising the house on the MLS which feeds into all the popular real estate sites such as Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia etc. It is THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR in getting potential buyers interested in your house.
STEP 8: Write a KILLER description for the public remarks
What did you love the most about your house? I loved sitting outside on the front patio on warm summer evenings. Guess what, I put that in my description! Talk it up! Why did you buy the house in the 1st place? What did you use different areas of the house for? We had several versatile areas that could be used for different things. This gives potential home buyers options they might not have thought of for their potential living space. Again, we are MARKETING a product here. Showcase your product in the best possible way by giving it a killer description.
STEP 9: Advertise leading up to the date of sale
Ideas:
- Put your listing on the MLS as Coming Soon previous to listing to get interest going before your property is even on market.
- Door Hangers to advertise your upcoming open houses the day before your 1st one.
- Direct mail “Coming Soon” flyers to surrounding area
- “Coming Soon” Facebook Ads & Instagram posts directed to surrounding area
STEP 10: Set up Open Houses on 1st few days of sale
At some point, I will write about how to kill it with Open Houses. For now, just hire me to list your house, & I will kill it for you😉.
STEP 11: Advertise the HELL out of it!!!
- “For Sale” sign in front yard
- Facebook & Instagram ads
- Email blasts to all local agents
- Flyers &/or brochures
To be honest, I/We didn’t do all of the advertising mentioned above, as apparently we didn’t need to – so, you do you. However big or small you want to go is up to you!
Now, just wait for those MULTIPLE OFFERS to come pouring in;) Like I said before – the market does have a lot to do with it. I/we can’t take complete credit. But what I told myself is that I didn’t want to regret doing my absolute best & risk having my house sit on the market for more than a week. It just doesn’t look good.
You know the term “hot property”? Well, THAT’S what you want your property to be to have people offering above list price. And THAT’S what you’ll get if you market your house the way a true marketing professional sells any product!💃🏾
