The 3 Stages Of Getting Your House Ready To Sell
You need to sell your house and you’ve hired a realtor, but now what? Getting your home ready to sell is not for the faint of heart. Once you combine the work you have to do with the plethora of information available on the internet/Facebook/friends/parents/in-laws, it can all seem a bit overwhelming. Not to fear, Big Texas Home Buyers is here to help! Rather than giving a seemingly never ending “to do” list, we’ve taken our years of experience and broken them down into the (mostly) painless “3 Stages of Readiness”.
First Stage of Getting Your House Ready to Sell: Showing Ready a.k.a Evil Mother In-Law Is Coming to Visit
Close your eyes (wait til you finish reading this section) and picture the one person that the mere thought of them visiting your home gives you a tinge of anxiety, a feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach. It’s not that you don’t like that person, heck you may even love that person but you know that you will see that inevitable look in their eyes the moment you hear the car door slam. The look of unabashed judgement. Keep that all seeing, all judging eye in your mind as you do the following:
- Hide all of your dirty laundry, literally and figuratively. Organize and clean your home. Looks good, right? Now go through each room with the proverbial fine tooth comb and make yourself look at it through the eyes of a potential buyer. Medicine cabinet have one too many painkiller prescriptions? Hide it. Ceramic cow collection that would win you first place at a ceramic cow collecting competition? Hide it. The piles of dirty laundry you haven’t gotten around to washing? Throw it in a garbage bag and toss it in your car trunk. It’s incredibly important to put aside your ego during this process and remember that your home is being prepped for a new round of memories and it is difficult for potential buyers to picture themselves in your home if they can still see you in it.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Trick. You may have heard this one before and for good reason. Our sense of smell is closely linked not only to our memories but also our emotions. The scent of fresh baked cookies wafting through the home often brings back childhood memories and creates a sense of longing to relive those moments…and hopefully in the home you are selling.
- Pets. Is your evil mother in-law allergic to cats, dogs, little Susie’s guinea pig? No? Too bad, imagine they are and get those pets out of there during showings.
- The Instagram Test. If your house showed up on Instagram would you “heart” it because it looked so chic and organized? If the answer is yes then you have passed the first stage with flying colors. Onto stage 2…………
Second Stage of Getting Your House Ready to Sell: Inspection Ready
Someone loves your house! They really, really love it! Yay!!!!!!!!!! But don’t pop open the champagne just yet because first you have to get through the inspection. Imagine this is Super Mario Brothers and you’re pumped because you made it to the end of the level but you still have to face Bowser, that’s your home inspection. Home inspections tend to cause unnecessary stress but we have a few insider tips to get you prepped and inspection confident.
- The Dreaded Foundation. What if we told you that you didn’t need to live in fear of foundation issues, that those few cracks on the exterior of your home doesn’t automatically mean that you should tear your house down and start over? This is especially true here in North Texas and the DFW area. The high amount of clay in the soil causes the soil to absorb an exorbitant amount of water and once dry becomes cracked. This happening over and over through the years can wreak havoc to foundation. The best way to get ahead of this issue is to acquire a structural engineer’s report. This report will include information regarding issues such as the foundation and bricks having cracks, fascia separations, window separations and other pointers that might compel you to undertake house leveling. A structural engineer will also carry out slab elevation evaluation to check whether a house has undergone any differential movement.
- AC Filters. This is a simple fix that can cause expensive damage. Clogged air filters are the number one cause of heating and cooling system issues and can also cause the illusion that there are bigger issues present than are reality.
- Leaky Loo’s. The kitchen sink that has a barely noticeable drip that totally isn’t a big deal….might be a big deal to Bowser. Leaky faucets and toilets may only need a quick tighten with a screwdriver but it could also be indicative of a bigger problem. While you’re checking for any leaks and drips, be sure to also inspect your water meter to insure that it isn’t running excessively.
- Clean Your Windows. It would never occur to most people to make sure that you clean all of the windows in your house before an inspection but foggy or moist windows from the last rain can mimic the signs of a broken seal. It’s easy, quick and you probably need to do it anyways.
- Pre-inspection. The downfall to a pre-inspection is that you’ll spend $200-$500 for a report. However, the bigger bonus is you can preemptively fix any issue up front alleviating the stress of waiting to see what may pop up on the Buyer’s inspection.
Level completed. Bowser has been defeated!
Third Stage of Getting Your House Ready to Sell: Closing Ready
Closing ready means everything is completed. Papers have been signed, boxes have been packed and moved, the home looks beautiful for the next folks that are excited to make this house their new home. All we have left to say is CONGRATULATIONS! Pop open the champagne because you have successfully completed all 3 stages of getting your home ready to sell.
Bіg Texas Hоmе Buуеrѕ are rеаl еѕtаtе investors that buy hоuѕеs as-is in Dаllаѕ/Ft Worth. If you are looking tо ѕеll а house in the DFW area, Big Texas Home Buyers is your go to solution for a quick cash offer. No need to go through the 3 stages! We will do that for you. Contact us at 214-444-9385 or complete our Quick Response Form.
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