While purchasing a home can be stressful, selling a home can be an even more daunting task. As the seller you are responsible for identifying any issues with the home, pricing it properly, staging, marketing, and more. The ball is in your court. As a first time home seller, it can be difficult to know what to do for a painless and speedy sale.

Home Seller Checklist: Getting Your House Ready to Sell

Preparation is key to having a successful and stress-free selling experience. Use the following checklist to make sure that you position yourself well in the market.

1. Identify Your Reasons for Selling

Why are you leaving? This is one of the first questions that a prospective buyer will ask. Are you moving to a different location? Has the size of your family changed? Give your REALTOR the scoop so they can represent your home properly.

2. Analyze the Market to Price Your Home

A good REALTOR will find out what the comparable homes in your area are selling for and guide you through the differences between a seller’s market and a buyer’s market. Pricing your home properly from the get-go will speed the process along.

3. Get Pre-Approved for a Home Loan

Once your house sells, things are going to move quickly. Getting a mortgage pre-approval gives you a budget to work with, tells home sellers that you are serious about buying and allows the process to move more smoothly once you find the house of your dreams.

4. Check in with your Current Lender

Speak with your current mortgage lender before you list your home. They can tell you your exact payoff amount and whether or not there will be pre-payment penalties associated with your mortgage loan. Once you know this figure, you can factor it into your listing price.

5. Interview Real Estate Agents

Your REALTOR is your partner throughout this process. Make sure that you trust them to guide you wisely and fight for your best interests. Kym Booke is a Certified Negotiator.

6. Determine How Much it Costs to Sell

These costs can include the REALTOR’s fee (around 5-6% of the sale cost), home repairs, inspection costs, utilities, etc. Getting an idea ahead of time will help prevent any surprises later on.

7. Set a Competitive Price

Your REALTOR will help you figure out any outstanding loans, taxes, or closing costs applicable, and how much you’d like to make off of the sale. Your sales price will be based off of this along with market trends.

8. Make Necessary Repairs

Those tiny little repairs inside and outside your home that you’ve been putting off… now’s the time. Curb appeal is a prospective buyer’s first impression of your home, make it a good one.

9. Get the House Ready to Show with Staging

Prospective buyers want to see themselves in a home. If your house isn’t already “homey”, you can rent furniture and accessories. You should also remove family photos from the space. Remember a buyer wants to picture themselves in the home, not you.

10. Market your Home

A REALTOR should be doing more than just staking a sign in the front yard. They will utilize a full range of marketing options like social media, online listings, and good old fashioned networking.

11. Sell Before Buying

A cash offer is more likely to be accepted than one waiting on a loan to come through. If selling your home will provide the ability to purchase your next home with cash, than sell before buying.

Selling a home can be challenging but with the right guidance and preparation, you’ll have a Sold sign out front in no time.