Top 9 Things to Know Before Selling Your Current Home

Are you planning to list your home among the other Palm Springs or Rancho Mirage homes for sale? There are a lot of things to do before you list your current home if you want it to sell quickly and for top dollar. Here is what you should know before you sell your Rancho Mirage property.

There’s a reason why Rancho Mirage homes for sale represented by a professional agent sell for more. It might be tempting to try to sell your home on your own to avoid paying a commission, but for sale by owner transactions tend to waste both time and money. A good agent will help you price your property, attract the right buyers, and handle all the paperwork to create a seamless process. That being said, it’s crucial to do your research to find and hire a seller’s agent who really knows the local Rancho Mirage market and interview the agent to make sure they’re a great fit.

Potential home buyers tend to judge homes based on their first impression, so it’s important to think about the curb appeal of the property. You should make sure that the buyer’s first impression of the property is a great one and encourages them to schedule a tour or attend an open house. You can invest some effort into the exterior of the home, such as repainting the front door and planting some colorful flowers. It helps to ask your seller’s agent for advice on how other sellers have improved the outside of their homes before selling them if you’re still unsure of how to boost the curb appeal of your home.

When it comes to preparing your property for showings, less is certainly more. That’s why decluttering Rancho Mirage condos for sale is key to the selling process. You should do a clean sweep of all of the visible areas in your home, including the tables, windowsills, and counters, then do a clean sweep of everything behind closed doors, including the cupboards, drawers, and closets, since nothing is off limits for curious home buyers. If your property is overflowing with too many things, then potential home buyers might be concerned that your home doesn’t have enough space for their belongings. So take all of your extra stuff and either donate it or pack it away to be stored in a storage unit off-site.

You should also remove any distractions from the property so the potential home buyers can see themselves and their family living in the space. Make sure to get rid of any family photos and personal belongings, as well as bold furniture and artwork that might make the property less appealing to a general audience. The main goal of depersonalizing your home is to create a blank canvas where the home buyers can project their vision of loving and living in the home.

You might love the purple accent wall in your bedroom, but potential buyers might hate the color purple. The safest thing to do is to repaint any bright and bold colored walls to neutral tones like beige or tan. It’s rare that someone will absolutely hate a neutral-colored wall, but another advantage of neutral-colored walls is that it’s easier for someone to envision the room in the color of their choice when the room is a neutral color than when it’s a bold and bright color like purple or orange. It’s your job as the seller to help potential home buyers picture themselves in the property. They will probably end up looking at other home options if they don’t feel at home on the property.

Every good Rancho Mirage and Palm Springs real estate agent knows the value of a fresh coat of paint. Even if you are not fully repainting your home, you can make your property sparkle and look brilliant by scrubbing and touching up doors, walls, and baseboards. It can be difficult to sell nearly any property, but selling a property with a lot of little repair needs and problems is very hard. Potential home buyers want to fall in love with a property when they go on a home tour or attend an open house, and seeing a lot of little repair needs will not impress them. That’s why you need to fix up your property before listing it. You will likely see multiple offers and more interest with a property that is all fixed up and move-in ready.

A missing lightbulb or loose handle can have a huge negative impact on potential home buyers. When they see loose handles or missing light bulbs, they stop and think about what else might be broken on the property. For potential home buyers, submitting a home offer and committing to a mortgage is a huge deal, so you don’t want to give them any doubts that your property will be an amazing place to live when you’re selling your home.

When you’re staging your home, it’s crucial to remember that greenery is appealing. Plants and flowers create a more welcoming and bright environment. Think about adding a seasonal wreath to the front door or a bouquet of flowers to the dining table or kitchen counter, and consider placing some tall floor plants around the office and living room. Plants and natural elements will impress potential home buyers by adding some additional color and life to the decor.

Even the most subtle bad smells can be a huge deal breaker in a home. Some of these smells may go unnoticed by you, especially if you’ve lived in your home for many years and have gotten used to them. That’s why it helps to conduct a smell test by inviting an unbiased person to your property to catch any lingering smells coming from your kitchen or pet odors in your home. Fortunately, most bad smells can be addressed by a deep cleaning and a fresh coat of paint.

When you’re prepared to take the next step, reach out to Rancho Mirage and Palm Springs real estate expert Gregg Fletcher for guidance.