Selling a home can be a headache. And if you’ve never done it before — where do you start? It starts with assembling a list of the people who can help you and ends with you staging your property before your first open house. This home sale checklist can also help.
Contact the Professionals You’ll Need
Get your squad in line before you put your home on the market. There may be more professionals to vet than you anticipate, so it’s wise to have a list on hand. Here are a few of the professionals we recommend working with (not all of them will apply to your situation):
- Real estate agent – You want to work with someone who has success in your zip code
- Financial planner – If you will come into a windfall when you sell your home, have someone on deck to help you sort out where to put the money
- Accountant – Selling your home can have major tax implications, so make sure you’re not using a tax software to do your own taxes the next year
- Handyman – You may need to do some repairs before you list your home, so start vetting a handyman, plumber, and other pros now
Fix Up the Inside of Your Home
Spiffing up your property must also be on your home sale checklist. Making the inside of your home appealing can not only increase the number of offers you get, but increase the sales price. In face, 25% of buyers’ agents say staging home can increase the home’s value by as much as 1-5%. Staging includes everything from decluttering your space by removing personal photos, etc. to moving the furniture around to make rooms appear larger. And be sure to paint over any bold wall colors with something more neutral.
Check Your Curb Appeal
The way your home looks from the outside can also affect the sale price. As Realtor Magazine reports, one study found that “homes with high curb appeal tend to sell for an average of 7% more than similar houses with an uninviting exterior.” You don’t have to spend a fortune to reinvent your yard, but it’s worth mowing the lawn, adding new sod if necessary, and giving your flower beds a little bit of a makeover. You’d be surprised how much something as simple as changing the house numbers and adding a new mail box can make a difference in curb appeal.
Collect Your Paperwork
You’ll also need a mountain of paperwork to transfer your home to another person. Don’t worry, either your real estate agent or the investor buying your home can walk you through most of it. Still, your home sale checklist will include a lot of paperwork. Come to the table with these documents in hand to make things run more smoothly:
- The title to your home, along with any deed documents that show when you took ownership
- Tax records related to your home
- Any official appraisal documents you may have
- Insurance records
- Documents related to any home additions or improvements, such as permits or receipts
- Warranty information for new appliances or systems that are still covered
Complete Some Small Fixes
Homeowners don’t want to walk into their new property with an immediate list of must-fixes if they can avoid it. A leaky faucet or hole in the wall also indicate that you may not be taking good care of the property in general — which is off-putting, to say the least. Take the time to fix things like a running toilet and broken step before you bring in any potential buyer.
Do you need to sell your home fast but don’t want to deal with the red tape? California Family Homebuyers can help you eliminate the need for a home sale checklist. We accept Sacramento area homes in almost any condition, and we can often close within a week. Give us a call today if you want to sell your Sacramento home fast!