For most homeowners, selling their house seems like a daunting task. That’s why an experienced, knowledgeable real estate agent is one of your greatest assets in the sales process. To find out how you can get the best outcome from your Tacoma home sale, let’s go over 7 crucial steps in the process:
The Agent Search
Once you’re ready to get the ball rolling, it’s a great idea to take your time while hunting down the perfect real estate professional for you.
This means getting recommendations from friends and family, meeting with multiple agents, and contacting their references. Different agents have varying contacts they have accumulated throughout their careers. Those resources, such as a professional photographer or an interior designer, could make a substantial difference when selling a house in Tacoma.
Before signing an agency contract allowing a real estate agent to list the home, many sellers want to know how much it will cost. Don’t forget that while a commission is negotiable, you will pay a professional fee for a professionally executed job.
Timing Is Essential
It’s no big secret that timing when your listing hits the market will have a great impact.
Spring and summer listings have a tendency to sell faster, and for more money, than listings that go up in the colder months. However, you may have a different kind of advantage if there are no other comparable properties currently for sale. Planning ahead allows you to have everything ready to go and to hit the ground running once you want your listing to be active.
Highlight Your Work
Any listing will be sure to mention special features of a property, but you want to really drive home any work you did on the home. It’s okay to take pride in the ways you’ve made the house a really awesome home.
Take the time to individually point out any upgrades, repairs, or additions in which you were involved. This helps make it clear that you have a strong, meaningful investment in this property, and want it to go to a worthy and motivated buyer.
Be Upfront About Issues
While you certainly would not want to state the negatives of your property in your listing, don’t intentionally hide downsides from potential buyers or omit any important information in your disclosure forms.
Disclosing things like the requirement for flood insurance, along with estimated premiums, or upcoming necessary repairs shows you’re open and honest about what the buyer could be getting themselves into. If a buyer finds out you’re hiding something, they’re not going to trust you through the rest of the process.
This would make negotiation much more complicated, assuming they haven’t already bailed on the deal.
Details Matter
Everybody knows you need to clean your house before putting it on the market, but it’s common for sellers to take things a step further by cutting down the objects in their homes.
Declutter your closets by removing everything from the closet, selecting half of the items to store elsewhere, and reorganize the remaining half when putting it back. Depersonalize the living spaces by removing family photos and heirlooms.
These steps will both help the potential buyers feel like they’re viewing the home as a place for them to make their mark rather than an intruder in your space.
Rely on Your Agent for Pricing Guidance
It can be very easy in this day and age to take a look at one of the popular listing sites and feel everything there is gospel.
These sites try providing estimates for property values mostly based on whatever tax records they can get their hands on, and they quickly and easily become out of date. Your agent comes equipped with years of knowledge and experience that informs every decision and suggestion they make. They can provide a pricing opinion based on recent relevant property sales in your neighborhood and advise on the listing price that will help you achieve your objectives.
Listen to them, and you’ll be better off for it.
The Pre-listing Inspection
Once you feel everything is ready to go, consider calling in an inspector to go through everything thoroughly. Your agent should have a trusted team, including an inspector, that they can refer you to.
This will give you an idea of anything you and your agent may have overlooked, and prepares you for any results that could come from a later inspection done by the buyer. Getting ahead of any issues will certainly pay off later when selling a house in Tacoma.
Professional Guidance for Selling a House in Tacoma
As experts in the local Tacoma real estate market, we have helped many sellers list their property and sell quickly and easily by providing our professional, doctor-level care. If you’re planning on selling a house in Tacoma soon, contact us today at (425) 880-2580!