Selling your home is a very important decision, and should be given serious consideration.  Here are Five Important Steps to Take before Selling Your Home.

1.)  Motivation for Selling: There are many good reasons why a homeowner should sell their home.  It is important to make a honest assessment of your true motivation, especially in a slow market.  Some of the many reasons why someone should sell their home are:  Family is growing and current home is too small,  job transfer,  kids moved out of the home,  loss of job or other financial difficulty and can no longer keep up with the mortgage payments,  divorce, advancing age and no longer can climb stairs,  and so on.

2.)  Selecting a Real Estate Agent: When you are selecting a Realtor to list and sell your home, there are 4 areas one should consider which are;  Experience, Track record of success, powerful Internet marketing Program,  Integrity and Truthfulness, and do you feel comfortable with this person.

Experience is an obvious criteria.  There are a lot of things to know with regard to real estate law, inspections, neighborhoods, negotiations, and more.   When you are about to buy a $200,000, $600,000 or $800,000 property, you want to make sure your Realtor has some experience under their belt…

Today, more then 85% of all homes seekers begin their search for a home to buy on the Internet.  If you want your home to receive maximum exposure to ready, willing and able buyers, make sure your Realtor has an effective and aggressive Internet marketing strategy.

Integrity and Truthfulness are obvious character traits that you want in your Realtor, but not easy to determine.   The first thing to look for though, is you  want an agent who will tell you the truth about your home regarding condition, location, and price.   Many agents just want the listing so badly that they will just go along with whatever price you select, with no regard for the market. The mentality here is, “I’ll just take the listing, then we’ll work on getting it reduced later.” This is a huge mistake, since you will end up losing out on the initial buyers who would have seen your home but the price is too high.

3.)  Preparing your Home for Sale: There are many no cost and low cost things a homeowner can do to greatly improve the marketability of your home.  Try to look at your home through the eyes of a potential buyer when you’re preparing it for sale. Here are some of the more common and valuable thongs one can do that are free or very low cost:

• Curb Appeal:  Feed, mow and water your lawn regularly. Plant colorful annual flowers near the door, and make sure you weed and trim the rest of your garden. Wash the windows and pick up any trash.  Keep the garage door closed, no matter how spiffed up your garage is.
• Fix-up: Perform any needed repairs on the interior or exterior of your home.  Fix, paint or cosmetically enhance anything that might hinder a sale.  Patch any holes or cracks in the walls and ceilings.  Replace the toilet seat and shower curtain. Fix ripped window screens. Replace cracked or broken panes, and make sure all windows open, close and lock smoothly.
• De-clutter: – De-clutter all rooms to make them look and feel larger.  Clear the kitchen counters of items you don’t use daily.   Rent one of the storage units for several months if need be.   Also, clear out the closets so they look roomier.  Also consider re-arranging some of the furniture so that it makes certain rooms look bigger, or consider removing some pieces of furniture altogether.
• Clean, clean clean:  Vacuum your carpets, or have them professionally cleaned. Clean and polish all smooth floors. Clean the oven, stove, refrigerator, exhaust fan and kitchen sink very thoroughly.  Clean the bathroom thoroughly and hang fresh towels every day.

4.)  Pricing Your Home: It is very important to price your home correctly.  Obviously pricing it too low, results in leaving some of your hard earned equity n the table.  The harder issue, is not pricing it too high.  This causes your home to sit on the market for far too long, which then may be interpreted by the marketplace that there is something wrong with your home.   Here are the basic items that affect the value of your home:

• Location:   Is your home located in a desirable area that is in demand, or does it back up to a busy street with lots of road noise.  Location is probably the single most important factor in pricing your home.
• Condition: A house that has been better maintained and shows better will always sell for more than one that has deferred maintenance and needs work.  Current colors, rather than outdated ones, will affect pricing. Something as subtle as odor, can positively or negatively affect value.
• Size and floor plan:  the overall square footage and number of bedrooms, baths and garages directly relate to the value of your home.  Also, how the home is designed and flows from one room to the next can also have an impact on value.
• Amenities:  If a house has amenities that are currently popular in the marketplace, it will bring a higher price. Spacious kitchens and master suites, granite counter tops, and great rooms are all features that currently sell well.

5.)  Marketing and Negotiations: As we mentioned above, a comprehensive and aggressive Internet marketing plan is a must in today’s modern market.  That were are all of the qualified potential buyers are, and that is where your home should be advertise for sale.  Homes marketed on the Web should include multiple photos, maps, school information, detailed descriptions, neighborhood description and more.

A tough negotiator can save you $3,000, $5,000, $10,000 or more.  maker sure your Realtor has battled hardened negotiation experience so you obtain top dollar for your home in any market condition.

We have helped numerous homeowners in San Diego and Riverside counties and we can help you. Don’t trust your home with just anybody!!!  We are a licensed real estate Brokerage County Properties affiliated with County Foreclosures and Properties USA Inc…. We’ve been working in the real estate industry with homeowners since 1995. … We will sell your home and get top dollar in this challenging market. If you do not have enough equity, and you must sell your property as a short sale we have the expertise to do so.

Please feel free to contact me today at my website, click County Properties San Diego or County Properties Riverside