Life After Listing

Curious about what happens once you list your home for sale? It's always best to be prepared. Below please find some quick facts about the process that comes between listing your home and selling it.

After you list your home, your Realtor with enter it into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which feeds to hundreds of websites such as Realtor.com. You can expect to see a "for sale" sign in your yard and a lockbox on your door, which grants Realtors access to your home when showing it to potential buyers.

During open houses and scheduled showings, its best to be out of the house. This way, the people looking at it can better picture it as their own. Also, it allows them to make open comments about the home. Your agent may hold an open house for Realtors right away, followed by one for the public on the weekend. Thus, it's important that your house is show-ready when you list. This means clean, uncluttered, depersonalized, and photogenic. For ideas on how to stage your home, read my previous blog post, here.

Most people who view your home will do so in the first two weeks. Still, in a normal market, you can expect a home to sit on the market for 60-90 days. In today's housing market, this number is lower. Ideally, you should see interest in the first six weeks. If not, work with your Realtor to discuss strategy, pricing, and home improvements that will help market your home. If a buyer requests to see your home multiple times, that's a great sign!

Ready to list? Contact me. ... and congratulations!

Staging Your Home to Sell

According to a 2011 study, staged homes sold in 42 days, on average, while their non-staged counterparts remained on the market after 156 days (The SRES Professional). That's greater than three times as long. Cleary, staging is important to selling your home. Follow some basic tips, and sellers can improve their competitiveness in no time.

The simplest way to stage your home is to declutter. This is best done before you begin cleaning. Throw away what you don’t need, and store the rest so the buyer doesn’t see all of your belongings upon entering your home. This will optimize your space and make the home appear larger. Try to get your home to resemble a hotel room: spacious, clean, and welcoming. A crowded house may inhibit the buyer from picturing the house as his/her own. For similar reasons, minimize the amount of personal mementos (to one per room, if any). Make counter, bathroom, and dresser surfaces as clear and pristine as possible. Put away appliances and distracting decorations (such as toasters, knife sets, hair dryers, and refrigerator magnets). Like countertops, the floors should be spotless. A buyer should not be able to deduce that a pet lived in your home. Finally, make sure each room has a designated purpose (a study, reading room, etc.). In bedrooms, beds should be neatly made. Following these tips will help your home sell more quickly and thus avoid the stigma of an expired listing. The YouTube tutorial (below) illustrates how one couple's home was successfully staged. 

As a Realtor, I help my clients stage their homes before showings. If you'd like to know more, please feel free to contact me.