anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

i need to get out for financial reasons, nothing is wrong with my house. if i could stay i would, but instead i'm in a massive time crunch to sell this place. anyone have any suggestions on how to sell as quickly as possible?

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

price it right. if it is priced right, it will sell.
make sure it is clean and tidy - nothing out of place, nothing laying around.
A fresh coat of paint never hurts.
But the major thing is to price it right, you can't be greedy if you have to sell quickly.

Message edited 10/9/2007 3:01:21 PM.

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

I would agree, price is most important. Make sure it's clean, nothing major needs to be done so if you do have a buyer the deal does not fall through after an inspection.

I would call Real Estate Agents ASAP also and get it on the market.

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

Put a fresh coat of paint on the major rooms. If you have the money, or time, new carpeting as well. Nice drapes for every window too.

Most important is to de-clutter. Take down 90% of your chatkes, including photos and pictures. Clear the kitchen countertops of EVERYTHING.

Make sure the house is clean. For open houses, open the windows and turn on every light in the house. Put fresh flowers in the living room, kitchen and master bedroom.

Last, put out a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for the open house.

We did all that, and we got three offers for our first open house.

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

Make sure your closets, cabinets are at least 1/2 empty... gives the illusion of more space. Even if you have to put things in storage.

Get carpets steam cleaned, especially if you have pets.

Make sure your house has curb appeal... put out a few pots of mums on the stoop/porch.

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

Where is ur house located?

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

And please, if you have pets, remove them from the house for the open house.

We went to one house where we couldn't see the basement b/c they "had big dogs" down there. As if we'd make an offer without seeing the entire house.

Also, as much as we love animals, any time we saw animals (or signs of animals), we scrutinized MUCH more closely for smell, damage to floors, etc.

If you have a cat, get the litter box out of the house or hide it away -- and make sure it is CLEAN. We went to an open house with a dirty litter box in the dining room.

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

the house is in babylon, 2 blocks north of the village. i have no pets to worry about, which is a big plus. thank you for all these tips, i will start working on them tonight, keep em coming...

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

Check this out, might be very helpful

Sell your home tips

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

Here are some tips I posted on another thread...

I flipped a few houses some years ago and this is what we did...

You guys need to follow the "flipping rules" in order to get your house ready for sale.

You get the most money back on...

1. Kitchens
2. Bathrooms

Make sure they are updated as possible. Many buyers don't want to go through the hassle or expense.

When it comes to bedrooms, LR, DR do the following...

1. Change the electrical outlets... just changing them makes people think of new construction and even though you haven't done it and you aren't saying you do it... it makes it look as if all the electrical is new. This is REAL cheap if you know a friend who can do this for you.

2. Update the light fixture. Go to Home Depot and find something up to date but not too trendy for about $100 for the diningroom or cheaper if you can get it. People really notice dated light fixtures. The size and shape should be appropriate to the scale of the room.

3. Windows...Remove all heavy drapes and those of a busy fabric. Plain sheers or valances in a contrasting color make the window, wall, space look bigger. Pick gender neutral fabrics and colors. Make sure windows open and close easily and are in good repair.

4. Clean carpet if applicable or remove entirely if hardwood floors underneath are in good condition. You do not need to refinish them just clean them up. They sell a product called "Rejuvenation or Rejuvenator" at HD. I used the tile equivalent on the bluestone in my entrance and it made it look brand new.

5. Paint all trim ultra brite white, semigloss. Paint walls a neutral light beige. Even if all bedrooms are the same color, it doesn't matter. Buy a 5 gallon container (a lot less money). This combo makes the trim pop and makes the space look clean, uniform, and often bigger. I know you have kids in the house and floor trim is easily nicked by toys... it must be painted.

6. Doorknobs/handles... if rickety, outdated or scratched... replace. Again, go to HD and buy a "builder's pack" (multi-pac=cheaper) of knobs. Keep in mind you MUST try to use the same finish of knobs throughout the space. For example, if you already have a light fixture that is brushed nickel, your knobs should be brushed nickel... not brass. Potential buyers will notice.

7. Closets... make sure all doors open and close easily... check knobs/handles. Clean out clutter in closets. When showing a home your closet should be at least 1/2 empty... gives the buyer the illusion that they have a lot of space available for their stuff.

8. Knick-knacks/pictures. Knick-knacks... get rid of them... all of them... especially those that are "personal"... trophies, plaque, anything with a pic or a name. All personal pictures/photos should be taken down so that the buyer can picture him or herself in the space. Make sure all toys are neatly contained, actually remove any extra that you can and place in storage.

That's really all you should do for those rooms of the house. I flipped a few houses with an ex of mine about 5 years ago. That's all we did to the non-kitchen and bath rooms of the houses. We spent very little money in those rooms, just cleaned them up with paint, mostly. Each house sold very quickly.

Oh, and find out the "comps" for the area and price it just under all of the comps. RE agents will pull a group of houses, yours will be the lowest comp of the group and you are more likely to get a quick offer because everyone else will be higher than you.

Good luck.

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

Re: anyone have tips how to sell my house quickly?

our house sold in about 2 weeks.. and we did a lot of things people have already said

1) made sure it was always clean and clutter free. we were lucky becasue we were buying ILs house from them, so they let us move some of our stuff in early, so that our house was less cluttered once it was on the market.

2) ALWAYS be ready for a showing. whenever our agent called and had somebody who wanted to see the house, we accomadated them.. even if it meant leaving the house in the middle of cooking dinner ( we did this once!). the more people who see your house, the more likely it is to sell.

3) stage it well... we made sure that the rooms didn't hvae too much furniture in them, so that the rooms looked bigger and more opened. we had the second bedroom set up as an office, and had a big desk and fouton in there ( since it was also our only guest bedroom)... when we put it on the market, we took the fouton over to ILs house, and it made the room look bigger which probably helped.

4) also, if you do any updates, be careful not to do TOO much and put it out of the "target" market. our house was in a "middle " neighborhood, not super upscale, and it was listing in the low $300 K. so it would have been silly for us to go overboard with super expensive marble counter tops, marble floors, etc... because it would have just been too much for the market we were targeting. instead, we just did some minor updates to make it look nice and fresh without going overboard.