What 3 things should I do to prepare my house before selling?

[Tanner Sherman]

A very common question that people have when they are getting ready to sell their home is- What should I do to prepare my house before selling? 

1. Find a Realtor 2. Get your home inspected.  3. Get a consult from a stager. 

As soon as you decide that you would like to sell your house, the first thing you should do is start interviewing agents. That's right, interview. Don't just work with your cousin Larry who got his real estate license last year and said he can slap it on the MLS for you, or think that you can save money by selling it yourself. Click here to find out why FSBO listings sell for way less than agent listed properties. When you realize that these agents are applying for a job, you will intentionally notice things about them that you wouldn't be thinking about otherwise; their appearance (are they groomed and well dressed or are there pizza stains on their t-shirt and shorts), are they knowledgeable in the field of real estate (if your agent cannot explain how the whole process works in their listing appointment, move on), how responsive are they (if it consistently takes 3+ phone calls to get ahold of them during normal business hours, do you expect them to answer the phone when the perfect buyer wants a showing during weird hours- probably not and you are going to miss out on a sale). These are just a couple sample questions that you should be thinking about while interviewing, that I will go more in depth in a later article.

Once you have found your agent, I believe getting a pre-sale home inspection done is necessary and worth the money. Even if you choose to not make any repairs, and presume the buyer will choose to do their own home inspection anyways, being able to attach this inspection to a listing helps paint the whole picture of your house to a buyer, and adds some integrity points with them since you are proving that you are not trying to hide anything. The issues are what they are and they can either take it or leave it. (I realize the seller property condition disclosure is supposed to serve this purpose, but they are so commonly filled out incorrectly or with minimal effort that buyers don't pay much attention to them in my opinion). It is very hard to read the label from inside the jar, so getting a third party to point out things that you have just gotten used is important/ (I am a trained home inspector and I still would choose to hire a home inspector)

The next thing you should do is spend a little bit of money getting a consultation with a staging company. They can give you an idea of what things you should pack, (family pictures, unique art, etc), and whether you can rearrange your furniture for the most welcoming presence or hire them to bring in staging furniture. (This can be difficult for some people to swallow but staged homes historically sell for more, so it's worth swallowing your pride- learn more by clicking here. 

Obviously these are the tip of the iceberg for what goes into a home sale, but let me know some other things that you think are necessary to do when beginning to list a house for sale!