Friday, May 11, 2012

Selling a house

It is official that we are now homeless. Our house settled on Friday, and whilst our bank account looks very impressive, we are without a home.

That does however mean that we sold our house...within less than a week!


In January we had a real estate agent come around to do a market appraisal and give us an indication of how we should go about things.

We were pleasantly surprised by what he indicated price wise, and he said what we were expecting him to say about things to be done around the house. Which I am now passing onto you.

* Finish all the small jobs you have been meaning to do, before you list it for sale. If a buyer sees that something is half finished they will try to negotiate the price down.

* Freshen up the front of your house. Plants are reasonably cheap, replace the dead ones with live ones. Paint the front door, and if you have the time/need, paint the front of the house. Mow your lawns. Buy a new door mat.

* Remove all the clutter. Then remove more. Clean out your cupboards, store things in the shed. Hire a storage shed if need be. Don't shove things into cupboards and hope that no-one looks, it is the first thing I do when I look through a house, I look at the storage.

* Clean like your life depends on it. Get rid of cobwebs. Clean the windows. Dust. Vacuum under the bed. Clean your bathroom like your mother in law is coming to visit.

Further to that
* Meet several agents and pick the one you find suits you best. Enquire about their commission rate, marketing strategies, policies on how they handle offers on your property.

* Don't overprice your house. Our neighbours overpriced their house by $50,000 on the off chance someone would pay that amount. It was for sale for 14 months. Our agent said the best time to sell a house is within the first 4-6 weeks of listing it. After that people start to think there is something wrong with it.

* Get quality photos. I have lost count of the times I have looked at photos online and promptly closed the browser because the photos were crap. I hate houses that only show you the outside of the house, not the internals.

* Organise your paperwork straight away. Get your solicitor to do your Section 32 so your agent can pass it on to prospective buyers right away. I have been after a Sec 32 on a house we're looking at for 5 weeks now. 5 WEEKS!!!
Pin It

4 comments:

  1. Congratulations April! It was obviously meant to be. Happy house hunting. I hope you find the house of your dreams soon. Ange

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done April!!! That is great news and very sound advice on what to do when planning on selling a house. I'm sure you'll get somewhere you love soon ....again, well done!

    Lesley
    xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, you sold it! Or are selling it, rather. Wow! Hope it's a smooth time for you :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. OMG April, you must be thrilled, these things can go on for eternity sometimes, awesome job - the place must be awesome to sell so quick - well done mate.
    :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments. I love seeing what you have to say, so write away!