Prepare a house to sell
and make money

When you take the time to prepare a house to sell properly, you will reap the rewards! You will sell it faster, for more money and will experience less stress in the process.

Let's take it step by step:

Determine the right market value for your property

A property's Market Value is NOT based on:

• What has been invested in the property
• What the seller needs to get out of the property
• What it is appraised for
• What the neighbor's property sold for
• What it is insured for

TRUE Property Market Values ARE based on:

TODAY'S PRICE which is what the buyer is willing to pay. And... TODAY'S PRICE is based on these 7 points:

1. Today's real estate market
2. Today's market competition
3. Today's financing options
4. Today's economic conditions
5. A buyer's perception of the property's condition
6. Location, Location, and Location of the property
7. Normal marketing time

Sellers CAN control the following:

• The price of the property that they ask for
• The condition of the property (stage it!)
• Access to the property

Sellers CAN NOT Control the following:

• Market conditions
• The motivation of their competition
• The overall value (as described above)

If you decide to hire a realtor and do your research, an experienced, reputable realtor familiar with your area should help you determine the right price for your property. A realtor should also help you decide on the priorities to prepare a house to sell in an optimum way.

If you decide to sell it yourself, you'll need to do a lot of research or use tools available from some specialized sites which cater to Do-it-yourself Sellers. For example, one such site in Canada is www.bytheowner.com , which offers a software tool to help you decide the RIGHT price of the property you're selling.

An example of e-book which you might find useful as well, is «Home Selling Secrets Revealed» , by Noel Peebles and Paul Ford.

Change your thinking

As the house is probably your biggest investment, it should be treated as such. So, to be able to prepare a house to sell , you have to, first and foremost, change your attitude and thinking - you live in a HOME but you are selling a HOUSE! That means emotional detachment from the property and doing whatever is necessary to increase its value. This step can be difficult to achieve for most people and, if they can't view their house objectively, a professional stager might help you to prepare your house for sale.

Think photographs!

As you probably know, most potential buyers are now shopping on Internet to preselect the properties they are interested in. The photographs of your house, posted on the Web, become an all important marketing tool - they have the power to bring you visitors or lose dozens, maybe hundreds of potential buyers... As a matter of fact, read the following statistics from Austim American Statesman (March 4, 2007):

«Eighty percent of people across the country who bought a new home last year used the Internet while house hunting, and they rated photographs as the most useful tool in their search, according to a survey of buyers and sellers by the National Association of Realtors. The survey also found that 24 percent of home buyers got their first glimpses of their new homes on the Web, up from a mere 2 percent in 1997.»

The quality of the photographs (lighting, proper size/dimension, the best angle, etc) as well as the impression/feeling the buyers will be getting from these pictures will determine how many visitors will be taking the next step - coming to your door. That's why Home Staging Montreal provides a professional real estate photographer as part of our services. You can get tips and advice on how to take best quality photos from our contributor and partner, Justin.

Remember, to prepare a house to sell, you'll need to put some effort, time and money (in that order) into it but it will be worth it!

Prepare a house to sell - the outside counts too

First impression = curb appeal. As you know, most buyers will drive up to a house and if they don't find the outside appealing, they will not even bother to go in. So, don't let that happen to you! Read up on some easy to do tips on staging the outside.

Stage the house

First impression = perception/feeling the prospective buyers will get as soon as they walk through the door. No matter what else you do to prepare a house to sell, don't neglect the Staging - a small investment which will make everything come together. Capture them in the first 30-90 seconds and they will want to make this their «HOME». Create that feeling by Staging your house - the better the house looks, the faster you'll sell it and you'll get more money for it, maybe even more than you think.

For do it yourselfers

If you want to save money, read our Budget Home staging page to get ideas and tips on how to prepare a house to sell inexpensively.

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