Selling property can be a daunting task. If you own residential property and live there, you’re already dealing with the stress of buying a new house and moving; the added pressure of selling your home can mount easily. If you flip residential real estate, marketing property might be even more stressful for you. Your livelihood is wrapped up in the property you’re flipping, so selling is a stress-inducing process, especially if there’s any uncertainty in the location. Regardless of why you are selling a house, there are plenty of tips and tricks to follow that will guide you along the process to reduce stress and increase your chances of selling.
Hosting a staging or taking pictures is the first step in generating interest in your property. Remember that not everyone prioritizes rooms in a house equally. There is strong evidence to suggest that the most important rooms for consumers are living rooms, master bedrooms, and kitchens. Expend more energy to make these spaces as appealing as possible, and maybe spend a little less time making a spare bedroom or powder room look perfect.
When you are staging your space, you absolutely must depersonalize the area and reduce as much clutter as possible. If you want your buyer to visualize the space as their own, having a bunch of personal items about will detract from that experience. Removing framed photos or anything pinned to a fridge provides a good start. Look to remove as much clothing from closet spaces as possible, and it’s usually best to remove any religious iconography if possible.
Getting rid of clutter and providing a deep clean will help sell the space as fresh and new for a prospective buyer. Cutting back on clutter can include reducing the amount of furniture, which only serves to further the buyer’s visualization process. If they are savvy buyers, they will be examining as many nooks and crannies as are available in your house. Leaving any sort of those spaces messy, dirty, or cluttered can lead to disinterest. If you’re putting your best foot forward, a deep clean of the house is probably in order. This includes not just providing a clean but fixing as many little nicks and dings as you can in any walls, doors, or baseboards. And the thing about all these steps is they become invisible to the buyer. Rarely will a buyer be astonished by how clean or decluttered space is. Yet more times than not, a buyer will be turned off by a demonstrably messy area.
Finally, don’t be afraid of updating appliances that seem out of date or stylistically out of fashion. There are plenty of economic ranges you can hit in this process. Want a cheap solution to an out of date dishwasher? Peel and Stick contact paper can provide the illusion of stainless steel. A fresh coat of paint never hurt either, even if you won’t live in the home anymore. And if you have the money to upgrade or update any appliances, especially in the kitchen, it could go a long way to impressing anyone who is perusing the house when you show it.
Obviously, the key to selling your property is to make it as visually appealing as possible. Some people make the mistake of making it feel too much like a home. It’s always best to make the space you’re selling accessible to the imagination of the buyer. Ensure your buyer can imagine the home as their own and start to see in their mind’s eye why they are investing in the property you’re offering.