How to Get Top Dollar When Selling Your Home

If you are putting your home up for sale, there are a few things you can do to help maximize your value. We asked Bryan and Colleen Souza, local Top 1% Realtors in our area, to share their top 5 tips for getting top dollar when selling your home.

Here’s 5 Key Things Sellers must keep in mind when preparing their home for market:

1. Less is More

2. Light and Bright

3. Begin with the end in Mind

4. Have all your ducks in a Row

5. The dollars are in the Details

Less is More

Once you have made the decision to move, it’s time for you to start packing up! This means you should get at least 100 boxes and begin thinning out the closets, taking down personal items such as family photos, awards, certificates, etc. Make sure to put away your prescriptions and mail so that no identifying information is available for potential buyers to see when visiting the property. You should thin out your decorations and furniture giving more open spaces to make rooms feel larger. The garage is a place of forgiveness so you can put all the packed boxes and extra in there for storage while the home is on the market.

Light and Bright

To sell for Top Dollar, you need to have the home filled with light and bright. All the lights need to be working, window blinds open. We highly recommend that you have the home professionally cleaned, carpets professionally cleaned, windows professionally cleaned, and yes, even your solar panels professionally cleaned. You want the home to sparkle with cleanliness. Buyers will enjoy visiting your property and offer you more when the house sings with light and bright. Imagine buying a dirty car, the same is true for a house, it’s just a lot bigger with more rooms and details.

Begin with the End in Mind

Once you decide to sell, you are moving! There are some very important questions you will need to answer: Where are you going to move? How are you going to move? What are you going to do with all your home belongings? Can you move out without selling your home first? What does it mean for you to be a contingent seller and contingent buyer in today’s market? Have you been pre-approved for a home loan? Will you rent? Have you looked at the rental market? Is now a good time to sell or should you wait out the market? These are all questions that your real estate professional should help you with and walk you through your options and choices without pressure so you can move your family with ease.

Have all of your Ducks in a Row

Studies show that using a seasoned real estate professional will help you sell your home quickly for top dollar. However, most people take more time researching their next car or cell phone purchase than they do researching the realtor who will help them with one of their largest investments – their home. There is a big difference between an agent who has a real estate license and sells 5-10 homes a year, and a real professional who sells hundreds of homes. There are plenty of online websites for you to check sales and reviews such as Zillow, Realtor.com, Yelp etc. Our #1 piece of advice is for you to research your Realtor. Who you choose does make a difference.

The Dollars are in the Details

One of the key recommendations we make to our sellers is that the dollars are in the details. We walk room by room with our clients and give them very direct and candid feedback on how to stage the home to sell for Top Dollar. And, one of your top priorities should be to fix things that are broken or offer a credit. Buyers need to know that you have cared for the property and are detail oriented. We once had a million dollar listing that had the garage door opener button hanging off the wall and not secured properly. Think of the message that sends buyers…. Make sure your Realtor is direct and gives you advice and doesn’t just tell you what you want to hear. Remember, your goal is not to get the listing, that is what the realtor wants. Your goal is to get your property sold for Top Dollar.

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