What To Do To Prep Your Home For Sale, Even If It Can Sell In A Day. Six Part Series: Part Two

Maine home sales in May 2021 are up 28.32% and prices are up 28.21% over May 2020 (granted this was during the shutdown). However, Home sales in Maine are also up 13% over April 2019 (when the market was already a strong seller’s market). 

In 2019, homes spent an average of 46 days on the market.  In 2021 it is now only 8 days.*

Want to get the very most money for your home in this hot sellers’ market? 

Most people don’t realize there is much more to selling a home than taking a few photos and throwing it on the MLS, especially if you want the very most for it in this hot sellers market.

This is why Balsam created our series, “Get the Most for Your House Even In a Hot Seller’s Market” - to help you and anyone you know maximize the profits from your biggest investment and not get “caught up in what other people are doing.”

Over the next few weeks, we are sharing our four steps to getting the most money possible when selling your home, even when a home can sell itself right now.

This is a must-read series, even if you aren’t selling a home anytime soon. 

This is week two in the series, and today you’ll learn what to do to prepare your home for sale, even if it can sell in a day. 

A hot seller’s market means it’s a great time to sell, right? But, here's the problem….as we scroll through the MLS looking at homes for our buyer clients, we are seeing a remarkable difference between houses that sell for top dollar and houses that don’t.

It’s heartbreaking to see sellers leaving money on the table and not selling their homes for the most money possible in this record-breaking seller’s market.  

Some sellers are doing this because they feel like they could put a sign in their yard and get their home sold.  

Sure a home can sell that way, but by just doing a few of the right things before selling it, you could get TENS of thousands of dollars or more without much time, effort or money.

Here’s a secret—right now, buyers are willing to pay even MORE for homes.  But, not if the home doesn’t look its best. 

Here's how to make that happen, even if you don’t want to spend time or money getting your home ready to put on the market: 

1.  Grab Their Attention.

99% of buyers are looking for their next home online.   The good news is we know WHERE to get buyers’ attention, the bad news is we only have three seconds to do it before they scroll on to the next house. 

In those three seconds, your home must stop as many buyers as possible in their tracks.  Your home must jump off the screen and make them want to drop everything and come see it.   How your home looks online needs to make them daydream about the life they will live in your home BEFORE they ever go inside.  

The better your home looks online, the more people who will be interested in it.  The more people who are interested, the more people will come to see it.  The more people that see it, the more offers you’ll get.  The more offers you get, the higher the price you’ll receive. 

So, how do we make this happen?

2.  You can’t SELL your home the same way you LIVE in your home.

Even as real estate agents, we live in our homes completely differently than how it would look  if we were selling it 

Why?  Because when we are selling, our home becomes a product. 

A product that we want to sell for the most money possible.  It is our biggest investment, after all, so why wouldn’t we want to position our biggest investment in the best light possible to get the very most possible out of it when it comes time to sell? 

Anything less is just leaving money on the table. 

3.  It doesn’t take a lot of time and money to get your home ready to sell for the most money possible. 

One of the things we say a lot is, “little hinges swing big doors.”   It’s true for all sorts of things when it comes to real estate, but especially when it comes to prepping your home to sell. 

Here’s just a few examples of our “secrets” to get a home prepared to sell for the most money possible without investing a lot of time or money.  

• Our 50% Rule —pull out 50% of what's in your closets, on your bookshelves and on your kitchen counters.  You are moving somewhere, so get packing!  Editing down 50% of what’s in your closets, on your counters and on your bookshelves gives buyers the perfect ratio of picturing themselves in your home without having to envision their new life from scratch.  Get rid of personal items and clutter, let them see the home as their own!

• Window screens & Lights —remove screens and store in the basement, shed, or even your trunk if you have to!  Removing screens lets in more light. Before a showing, turn on the lights in rooms and hallways and get rid of anything smelly (no fish for dinner before showings!) or distracting (no laundry drying on the peloton please).  

• Bright white— replace your towels and bedspreads with brand new bright white options.  You’ll be amazing how just this changes the look of bedrooms and bathrooms.  Look for other items that are looking worn or need cleaning. 

• Make them GREEN with envy— Pops of real plants and even a few fake ones makes homes feel like they are “alive” and makes buyers want to stay forever.

• Do your Honey Do’s — drawer pull need fixing? Closet door off its track? Hole in the wall? Couch pillow threads fraying & swaying in the wind of the noisy fan above? Walk through your home with an eagle eye to small projects (you don’t need to spend a ton of money) that will be an eyesore to buyers or will stick in their mind when they remember your home.  If you have more money to invest in updates, make sure you consult with us or another qualified REALTOR© so you know the updates will be the best not only for return of investment but also for leveraging selling price.

These are just a few of our secrets for inexpensive and quick ways to get a home to sell for the most money possible and for most of the items, I’d rather you just hand me the keys and let me take care of it! 

Just because you can throw a home on the MLS and get it sold, doesn't mean you should. If we bring our buyers to these types of homes, it will be clear the sellers aren’t emotionally invested in the home.  The buyers either don’t bother writing an offer or they write one that’s not their best, which means less money for the seller.  Sure, the house still might sell, but not for as much as it could. 

If you or anyone you know is thinking about selling a home soon, don’t make this big mistake—don’t skip on making it look it’s best.  And, don’t feel overwhelmed with the idea that you have to spend a lot of time or money making it look great either.  You most likely don’t have to. 

I’d love to help by taking a look at the home, creating a plan and making it happen with as little stress for you as possible.  Just email us at homework@balsamrealty.com and we can set up a time so we can have a look and we’ll go from there. 

*Maine Listing Data: April 2021 via Maine Association of REALTORS©