How to Prepare your Home for Selling

Sometimes it seems like in our Northern Virginia market any house sells. We live in a remarkably competitive housing market due to unique local dynamics involving government, military, and enterprise. If you dig a little deeper, though, you will discover that at any given moment, many houses sit on the market far longer than necessary with the listing eventually expiring.

 

The below graphic illustrates this fact for the year 2023 in Fairfax County. (source Bright MLS)

 

 

As a seller, it might be difficult to accept that your home becomes less and less attractive to potential buyers the longer it sits on the market. The truth is though, that after a while buyers start to think that there is something wrong with your house and won't even consider it. Luckily, this scenario can be avoided by preparing your listing the right way.

 

Here are some basic but proven strategies to sell your home quickly and for a great price:

 

1) Declutter and clean your home. With soaring house prices it is more important than ever that your home looks like the price tag you want to put on it. If necessary hire a professional to help you sort through things and a service to deep clean every room. It will be well worth your time and money.

 

2) Paint the walls in a neutral color. Not everyone shares your enthusiasm for that purple dining room or the psychedelic wallpaper in the hall bathroom. If you want to attract as many potential buyers as possible, it is best to stay within a neutral color scheme.

 

3) Make necessary repairs and upgrades ahead of time.

 

4) Remedy strong odors in the house. 

 

5) Take extra care of the exterior of your home and the yard. Trimmed bushes, weed-free flower beds, and fresh mulch are a must.

 

6) Set the price right from the beginning. Starting high and lowering later is a strategy that always backfires. Talk to a professional and let them help you determine the true value of your home. Click here if you are interested in a free consultation and home evaluation.

 

If you want to take it a step further and maximize the equity in your home read the second part of this post - How to make your house stand out from the crowd.