If you’re anxious to move into a new home, there’s a good chance you have to sell your current one first. It’s often tricky to get the timing just right as it’s not always easy to buy and sell at same time. There are certain steps you can take to speed up the sell home process.
Making Your Home More Appealing to Buyers
When prospective buyers enter your home, your objective is to create an atmosphere that causes them to say to themselves, “buy home.” On the other hand, certain qualities are a turn off that will cause them to leave and look elsewhere. Here are some tips to keep in mind.
Tips to Sell Your House
- Remove Clutter: A cluttered home looks smaller and less appealing. This is a good time to throw out or donate items you don’t need. If you need extra space, consider renting a storage unit. When decluttering, don’t neglect closets and cabinets, where buyers will often look as they go through your home.
- Depersonalize Your Home: Photos, trophies, your kids’ artwork and other personal items reinforce the idea that it’s your home. When you’re trying to sell your home, remove such objects. This makes it easier for people to imagine the space as theirs.
- Make Any Essential Repairs or Upgrades: You don’t want prospective buyers looking at your home and finding lots of problems. This is the time to fix problems such as leaks, broken appliances, missing shingles on the roof, burned out bulbs or anything else that might be an eyesore. If the house hasn’t been painted in some time, you might consider a fresh coat of paint.
- Clean and Straighten Out: When you’re selling a home, every detail makes a difference. Everything makes an impression. Dusty furniture, dirty dishes in the sink, carpets that need vacuuming and other such blemishes create an unappealing effect. On the other hand, if everything is clean and sparkling, people will be more likely to imagine themselves living there.
- Improve Curb Appeal: Your porch, lawn, yard and other elements are all part of the overall experience people get as they look over your home and property. Elements that contribute to curb appeal include your front door, your front lawn, porch, gardens, pathways, mailbox and driveway. Making upgrades such as painting your door, replacing the numbers for your address on the porch, mowing the lawn and trimming bushes and getting a new mailbox can all help to make your property more appealing.
In addition to considering buy home and sell home tactics, some people are trying to do both at the same time. This isn’t always easy, as you have to get the timing just right. We’ve put together some tips to help you below.
5 Tips to Buy and Sell a House at the Same Time
- Enlist the Help of Experts: A knowledgeable mortgage broker can help you clarify your financial situation. For example, he or she can tell you if it’s possible to close on a new home before you sell your current one. A real estate agent can show you homes for sale and also arrange to have prospective buyers look at the home you want to sell.
- Bridge Loans: A bridge loan can provide you with funding that fills the gap between the time you buy one home and sell your old one.
- Make a Contingent Offer: A contingent offer means that you make an offer to buy a home if and when your current home sells.
- Change the Closing Date: If you’ve made an offer but can’t complete the sale until your current home sells, you may be able to negotiate extending the closing date.
- Arrange Simultaneous Closing Dates: If all the elements fall into place, you may be able to arrange buying a new home and selling your current one on the same date.
If you’re looking to build a new home, contact the custom homebuilders at Covenant Homes to start the process