- Be aware of the three major causes of sellers stress: Selling your home is never easy. You are emotionally attached, not necessarily to the home itself but to the memories that took place in it. To minimize stress it is best to work with an experienced seller’s agent. A real estate agent that is used to working with homeowners looking to sell has experience in the process and understands the needs of the seller. This all benefits you as the seller. The three highest areas of stress when selling your home includes during the appraisal process, home inspections, showings and open houses.
- Be prepared to repair: Instead of waiting until your home is days away from being listed for sale take time to repair the things in your home that are not suitable to buyers. This process can take anywhere from six to nine months. Preparing ahead of time allows you to hire a reputable handyman to come in and service the areas within the home that need to be fixed before your home goes on the market. Waiting until the last minute only causes more stress and tension between you and the person making the repairs. Compile a list of things that need to be done and within what time frame in order to minimize down time. Make note of all of the recent updates for home buyers to access when looking into purchasing your home.
- Prepare to be fair: Having your home appraised is one of the most difficult events in selling a home. Not every repair that was done on the home will recoup its value in the asking price of your home. Some repairs or upgrades done to the home will only be for you and will not cause an increase in the asking price. Being prepared for the appraisal process will alleviate a great deal of stress for you as the seller. The memories you made in the home are not valuable to anyone else. The home is being valued on what it is in comparison to other homes available on the market with similar offerings. That is it. The process should not be taken personally as that will only add stress.
- Prepare your home: Preparing your home for sale is one of the most cleansing experiences and should be thought of as just that. Take the stress out of preparing by organizing and eliminating unnecessary furniture, knick-knacks and clutter. Create a routine that allows you to prepare your home for showings without really doing anything out of the ordinary new normal routine. In the morning before you leave for the day take time to make beds, put dishes in the dishwasher and do one complete load of laundry. Then you will be prepared in the evening when the realtor schedules a viewing or if someone wants to see your house during the day. Minor preparations, spending ten to fifteen minutes in the morning and at night can keep you from being stress during unexpected showings.
- Keep all things in perspective: Don’t worry if the house doesn’t smell like fresh baked goods or if pillows aren’t all fluffed perfectly. Buyers that are really interested in buying your home are not going take those things into account as much as they will that the house looks well kept and is clutter free.
Lady of the Lakes Real Estate is Livingston County’s premiere realtor; out of Pinckney, Michigan helping buyers buy and sellers sell homes that provide a recreational lifestyle including golf courses, lakes and the Huron river chain of lakes, throughout Brighton, Howell, Pinckney and the surrounding area. More information can be found at http://www.ladyofthelakes.com.