Selling your home is a huge and sometimes frightening undertaking, very often being the turning of the page to a new chapter in your life. There are so many things to do that the whole process can be pretty overwhelming. Still, you want to get everything right so you can sell quickly and at a good price. That means that there are a few critical things you need to do before listing, but they don’t have to be difficult. So take a look at our 6 easy things you can do to prepare your house for the MLS in Martinsburg and Hagerstown.
1. Deep Clean and Depersonalize
Deep cleaning, obviously, is almost always the first step to prepare your Martinsburg and Hagerstown house for the MLS. The ultimate purpose of such a thorough, in-depth cleaning, aside from making your house look as sparklingly appealing as possible, is to make it into a generic, blank slate so that buyers can envision your house as their home – so that they can see themselves living there.
And that’s why depersonalizing is so critically important. You need to remove all traces of your personality, things such as family photos, mementos, weird art, bizarre wall colors, and so on. Do everything you can to make it easy for buyers to imagine rooms filled with their furniture and their belongings.
2. Gather Property Details
Another easy and necessary thing you can do to prepare your house for the MLS in Martinsburg and Hagerstown is to gather property details ahead of time. That way this information will be easily accessible when you need it, for example, when writing the listing description.
You will need to gather and compile details such as ” building materials, upgrades, repairs, and appliance specifications,” as well as “special details about the homeowner’s association, neighborhood, and community.” In your list of property details, you should also include pertinent information such as:
- Square footage
- Lot size
- Number of beds and baths
- Date of construction
- Kind and date of installation for home systems
3. Determine List Price
And, certainly, you will need to determine your list price as part of preparing your house for the MLS in Martinsburg and Hagerstown. The problem for most sellers is setting a list price that is actually in line with fair market value. “Real estate research has shown that this bias typically leads to an expected sold price that is 8% higher than real market value. That’s why it’s important to understand the current market and to research other similar homes for sale in your area to get a realistic idea of where you should price your home to attract the most qualified buyers.”
Your best pricing tool is a comparative market analysis. Your local real estate agent can run an accurate analysis to help you price competitively. (To discover more, call 3017071678.)
4. Prepare Seller Disclosures
Another thing you’ll need to do to prepare your house for the MLS in Martinsburg and Hagerstown involves one of the legal aspects of selling. And that is to take care of the seller’s disclosures early on in the process. “Sellers are,” according to industry experts, “required to fill out a number of seller disclosures, such as the Seller Property Questionnaire, TransferDisclosure Statement, and the Carbon Monoxide Detector Notice. Sellers must disclose any material facts they are aware of, such as leaks, broken appliances, and any other issues with the property.”
5. Get Quality Listing Photos
Since so many people do so much of their home shopping online today, quality listing photos have become more important than ever. Most real estate pros advise using a professional photographer in order to get top-notch listing photos. And here’s what they advise doing to prepare your house for the photo session:
- Mow, rake, and trim hedges
- Organize lawn furniture and ornaments
- Power wash the exterior of your home
- Sweep entry areas
- Clear tables, cabinets, and countertops
- Put away pet items
- Open curtains and blinds
- Stage your home
6. Decide How You Want to List
While not strictly a way to prepare your house for the MLS in Martinsburg and Hagerstown, this is still a critical decision in the process. You must decide whether you want to do a for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) deal or take the more traditional route of using an agent. If you decide to opt for the FSBO, you need to ask yourself a few questions, for example: “Do I know how to list on the MLS?” and “Do I have the necessary pricing expertise?” and “Do I have the knowledge to deal with the legal aspects?”
What we’ve listed here are only some of the things you need to do to prepare your house for the MLS in Martinsburg and Hagerstown. And you don’t want to miss any or get any wrong. So most sellers are, in fact, much better off using a qualified local agent.