Tips for Selling Your House Faster
Trying to sell a house in a down market can be difficult and stressful, but there are several things you can do to improve its marketability. By putting some time, effort, and money into it before it goes on the market, you can ensure that your home presents well, stands out from the crowd and doesn’t turn off potential buyers so that you can sell quickly…and at the best price.
Everyone likes to put their own personal touches and knick-knacks in a house when they own it, but to home buyers, it may prevent them from picturing their furniture and pictures in the house, and distract them from truly seeing your home’s unique architectural features and spacious rooms. Also consider the fact that the more cluttered the rooms look, the smaller they look. You may be holding back the true potential of your house by displaying pictures of your friends and family
Since you hope to move soon anyway, go ahead and box them up and put them in storage in advance of the open house or showing.
Neutral colors are better. Consider painting walls a neutral color such as beige or taupe. While you may enjoy vibrant colors, potential buyers may be turned off by the choice of colors. A neutral color allows them to add their visualize their own tastes.
Don’t leave the little issues unresolved. A potential homeowner is always going to over estimate the cost of repairs by atleast 30%. If there are problem areas in your home, get them fixed before the showing. When prospective buyers tour the house and see leak stains on the ceiling or peeling paint, they will also see future work and assume that bigger maintenance and repair issues are lurking behind those small problems.
This is particularly true in kitchens and bathrooms, which are often the two rooms that make or break a sale. An investment in either of these rooms will yield the biggest return. The expenses you incur on the front end sprucing up your home will be cheaper than the profits you could lose by having to lower the price to meet buyer demand.
The internet is a great marketing tool when trying to sell your house, so take advantage of the unique ways to market your house. Use YouTube.com, a video sharing Web site, to introduce yourself and your house for free. Take home shoppers on a virtual tour and tell them about its uniqueness and strengths from a first-person point of view.
Once your house is listed, e-mail the link to your friends and ask them to forward it on to their network of contacts. By simply having your friends pass along information about your house, you may be able to sell it without having to get a real estate agent involved which will save you thousands.
Be sure that you are using traditional marketing techniques to your best advantage. When photographing your home for promotional purposes, invest in a wide-angle lens for your camera so that rooms appear bigger and in proportion when they are displayed on Internet home listing sites or in marketing flyers. If you decide to create a virtual tour, look for professionals who will be able to film and upload your video using the best techniques and technology.
Come up with creative ways to draw people to your house by having a wine and cheese gathering as an open house, or if there are other homes for sale in your neighbor create a parade of homes to draw more people in. The more people that you can get through the door, the better your odds of getting the price you want.

