Is your home market-ready?

Thinking about selling your home? Great idea!!  In our area, at the moment, there aren’t many houses on the market. There is a lot of pent-up buyer demand.  Some owners are even receiving multiple offers.

But before you consider putting your house or apartment on the market - make sure it is ‘market-ready’.  Your property needs to look nice and be priced right. You only get one chance to make a good first impression!!

Here are 5 easy steps to make your home market-ready:

1.      De-clutter – Remove all of your clutter. Rent a storage locker. Hold a garage sale. Remember: one person’s treasure is another person’s junk.

2.      De-personalize - Remove personal mementoes and photos. Remember: You are not looking for someone to share your life. You are looking for someone to buy your property.  Allow the potential buyer to imagine his/her life in the surroundings.

3.      Photograph - Take good photos of the rooms. If possible, take videos. Eye-candy sells!!

4.      Maximize exposure - 90% of potential buyers begin their home search on the internet.

5.      Hire a real estate agent – Let them do all of  the time-consuming work for you (e.g. marketing, scheduling inspections,  hosting open houses, qualifying buyers, negotiating and closing, etc.). Ok, ok… full disclosure: I am a licensed real estate sales associate. However, this advice still holds true!!

In future weekly posts, I will tell you more about making your home market-ready. But for now, just keep in mind:  while your home is languishing on the market, YOU are wasting YOUR precious time and losing YOUR money.

If you are thinking of selling and have questions  about making your home market-ready, send me an email: Vicki@TimeIsMoney-NY.com; or, if you plan to attend the Hudson Valley Gateway Experience this Saturday (22 March at the Colonial Terrace in Peekskill), please stop by Coldwell Banker ‘s booth. I will be there from 2 to 4. I’d love to chat with you.

For tips on selling your home, please visit my Facebook page: Time Is Money.

For tips on traveling in Europe, please visit my Facebook page: Roaming thru Europe.