At the end of every year, I am asked, “I am planning to list this next year. When should I list and how do I prepare?”
Great question! If you are considering selling, here are a few tips to help you have the best experience.
Do not list during the Christmas holidays, nor the first week of January. List if you are prepared the second week of January. The holidays are not “dead in the water” for sales, but you will certainly have a lower number of serious buyers. Even if you get a contract in December, the closing will struggle to make it through the inspection and title process. It is possible, but it will take a miracle, and will very well cost you money on your sale.
We have a new group of buyers at the first of every year that decide to wait to get through the holidays and start a new year. Those are your target buyers.
For selling in 2023: this will be a year to put “ready to move in” property on the market. You will have more competition than you had last year so plan to put your best foot forward. Go ahead and have an inspection and see what you might be looking at when a buyer does their own. Fix the items that your real estate agent suggests! You will be surprised at what we will recommend and don’t recommend. I remember distinctly selling my own home years ago that had a kitchen window with a broken seal. I was sure my agent, also my best friend, would want me to have the window replaced before I listed it. She actually shocked me when she said, “No, let’s wait. It might not even be important to the next buyer!” All I could think about was that when I saw the sunrise over Mt.Leconte while making breakfast for my hungry daughters was the blurry view because of the cloudiness of the broken seal.
However, sure enough when our buyer made the “list of repairs” it wasn’t on it! Your priorities may not be your buyers! So trust your real estate agent!
But the items that jump out at you as your buyer walks to the front door, those are the things to pay attention to. Fix them! Especially shrubbery making your home look like a haunted house! Many of us I find never go to our front door. We go through a side door or the garage! You need to take the front door walk and be in a critical mood!
It will also be a year to “stage your house.” Pack up! You are moving! Move the boxes to the garage! Buyers will tolerate boxes in the garage but not small rooms. Too much clutter makes rooms seem smaller and clutter just multiplies the longer you live in a house, so be brutal with yourself and make trips to donate to Goodwill. Make them your best friend.
If you do choose to have your own home inspection done, you may want to offer the report and all your list of repairs and receipts as a perk to the buyer! It will save them money, give them comfort, and say a lot about you as a seller.
If you are selling an overnight rental property, then prepare to get your year end revenue from your rental company. I like to give them a gross number as this is what your competition will be giving them. I also would not advise giving out your expenses as no two years are alike. These changes can make the income appear over or under promising, so there’s not really a way to win from offering that.
With these tips in mind as you prepare to sell, you will be ahead of the competition when you are ready to place your home on the market.
