If you’re considering listing your home soon, you’ve come to the right place. Moving house can be a confusing, complicated experience, but the tips below should help to make your home-selling experience less stressful.

Find the perfect estate agent

If you want to sell your home, it’s critical that you know how to find an estate agent that will work with you to sell your home quickly and for the best price.

Here are a few tips to consider when selecting an estate agent:

• Find someone you trust
• Get references
• Find someone local
• Select an agent who keeps in touch
• Hire a team, not an individual

Determine the best time to list your home

There’s no doubt that selling a home is stressful, but selling your home at the right time can ease some of the headaches and frustrations. Spring is traditionally the busiest time for house moves as people look to be fully settled in advance of Christmas, so listing your home in early January is best to beat the rush and get ahead of the game.

Professional photography and 3D walkthroughs are key

Riveting and professional photography is a huge draw for home buyers. With drone photography becoming more accessible, it’s a great way to showcase your home’s features and give potential buyers an amazing look at your property. Don’t be tempted to use a wide-angle lens to make rooms look bigger, however, as viewers will only ever leave disappointed.

Handle the repairs from a pre-listing home inspection

Having your home inspected ahead of time is a smart move for any home seller. Most buyers will request a pre-listing home inspection prior to making an offer, and this inspection will provide you with an accurate picture of the condition of the home. Most buyers will walk away from a home that is in disrepair and will not make an offer on a house that they know needs a lot of work, so the least you can do is paint the walls and replace leaky taps.

Boost your curb appeal

Home sellers should take the time to enhance their home’s curb appeal before putting it on the market. Start by cleaning up your front garden. Tend to your flower beds and bushes, rake away fallen leaves, pull out weeds, and mow the lawn. Next, clean the windows and pressure wash the paving and brickwork. The idea is to make things clean and tidy, which will help potential buyers envision living there.

Declutter

Decluttering before putting your home on the market is one of the best things you can do to set a positive and inviting tone. Having too much stuff can make it hard for viewers to envision their own items in each room, whilst clutter also makes a room look smaller, which won’t help your house to sell.

Stage your home

Home staging is a technique used to improve the marketability of a home before selling. The idea is to make your home look homely, but without it looking like you live there. This means you should remove family photos from the walls and replace them with more generic artwork, and place fresh flowers in key places to brighten each room and increase your home’s charm.

Always be ready for a showing

A home seller needs to be ready to show their home at any time. Many estate agents arrange showings for their clients that are convenient for the viewer, which means they could arrive at any time. It can be hard work keeping everything presentable, but it’ll be worth it!

Improve the smell

An age-old trick to make your home more appealing to viewers is to have something baking in the oven before they come to view your home. The smell of warm bread is said to be the most appealing, but cookies, cakes, and biscuits also work. If you don’t have time to bake, light a few candles instead – they’ll improve the smell and increase the ambiance, killing two birds with one stone!

Respond to offers in a timely manner

Selling real estate is always a complicated process, and it can be especially difficult when there are several people involved, including buyers, agents, and lenders. The key to a smooth sale is to keep the lines of communication open, especially during negotiations, so that all parties can come to an agreement that works for everyone.

Selling your home is always a little chaotic, but with the tips above, the process should be a lot smoother for everyone involved!