So you want to sell your house? If you are thinking about putting your home on the market, there are a few things to consider before doing so. Now that the real estate market has cooled, selling your home can be difficult, especially if you’re not prepared.
Creating “barrier appeal” is one of the most important issues when competing in today’s real estate market. Without it, buyers likely won’t even think about looking inside your home: Of course, unless you price your home a lot less than all the other comparable homes in your neighborhood. Lowering the price of your home isn’t always the best thing to do, especially if you have a lot of money invested in your home. Therefore, you need to prepare your home for sale according to what home buyers expect when buying a home to make it work.
Having a “curb appeal” means showing your front exterior and yard neat, attractive, and well-maintained, with a “must have” look. What do most buyers expect to see when they see a home? Well, peeling paint, grassy grass, empty planting beds and broken fences are not what home buyers want to see when looking at a house. This means work, work, and more work for them and it puts your home at the bottom of their list of homes to consider buying. If you don’t want to scare off potential buyers, these are things to consider before you market your home. First impressions are lasting impressions when it comes to any real estate market. But, don’t be discouraged. This certainly doesn’t mean you have to completely renovate your home to sell it.
Try driving with your home first and pay close attention. You may like how it looks, but will potential buyers like it enough to spend their “hard earned” money on it? Creating a pleasing appearance is not difficult. Basic repairs to your home’s front and exterior landscaping are usually all that’s needed to produce curb appeal. This is the best place to start when preparing your home for sale.
To get an overview of what buyers want in a home, simply open a few home and garden magazines. While most of the homes pictured in photos aren’t the norm, most people are media oriented, so presenting your front and yard as a “visual” appeal will at least get their “foot” into your door. Once homebuyers start imagining themselves living in your home, then you must have won half the battle when it comes to selling your home on the “cool” real estate market.