Sell

The Best Way to Sell a House: 15 Tips to Get the Highest Amount On Your Home

Are you planning on putting your home on the market sometime soon?

The best way to sell a house quickly and get top dollar for it is by making the proper preparations prior to it going up for sale. When you take the time to get your home ready, you’ll knock home buyers’ socks off and encourage them to put in their best offers for your home.

There are so many ways you can sell your house fast while also getting the most money possible for it. You just need to know where to start.

Here are 15 tips to get the highest amount for your home when you sell it.

Table of Contents

1. Put Together a List of Home Improvement Projects You Should Complete

The best way to sell a house is by bringing it as up to date as you possibly can.

If it’s been a while since you’ve done any home improvement projects, you should sit down and make a list of the things you wish you could do to your home.

Your list might look like this:

Remodel the kitchen to make it bigger
Turn a half bathroom into a whole one
Finish off the basement
Replace the old, leaky windows throughout the home
Power wash the patio in the backyard

And so on and so forth.

Your goal should be to identify the shortcomings of your home and find the areas that might need to be changed before you sell it.

2. Prioritize the Projects That Will Give You the Best Returns

Once you’ve made a list of possible home improvement projects, you will probably find that it would be nearly impossible to do them all.

No worries! You can narrow down your list by focusing in on the projects that will deliver the most bang for your buck.

For example, remodeling a kitchen can be costly. But it can also get you a great return on your investment, especially if you remodel it right.

Even if you spend $10,000 or more to remodel it, that investment could pay off in a big way when you sell your home.

Put your list of home improvement projects in order from most important to least important. Then, if you can afford it, go down the list and complete the ones that will allow you to sell your home for more money.

3. Consider Putting a Fresh Coat of Paint in Every Room

The bright blue paint in your bathroom sure seemed like a great idea when you put it on your walls a few years ago. So did the lime green paint in your kitchen.

But chances are, buyers aren’t going to think those colors are all that great when they’re walking through your home.

You should think about painting each and every room in your home a neutral color that won’t distract buyers when they’re walking through it. For just a couple hundred dollars, you can transform the way your whole home looks.

4. Declutter Each and Every Room in Your Home

Clutter is going to make your home feel smaller than it actually is.

Therefore, you should take the time to declutter your home to the best of your ability. You should even consider purging a lot of your stuff or placing it into storage while you’re trying to sell your home.

The last thing you want is for someone to become preoccupied with the stacks of books and magazines you have everywhere rather than checking out the potential of your home.

By decluttering, you’ll open up space and let people envision themselves living in it.

5. Depersonalize the Rooms, Too

Outside of decluttering your home, you should also depersonalize it.

You should remove things like:

The photos of your family you have hanging up everywhere
The various notes and papers you have on your refrigerator
The awards you have proudly displayed in your home office

When buyers are touring your home, you don’t want them to feel like they’re walking through someone else’s house. You want them to feel like they’re walking through what could become their home.

By taking yourself out of the equation, you’ll make this possible for them.

6. Organize Your Kitchen and Bathrooms

It’s going to be tough to get rid of all of the things you keep in your kitchen and bathroom. You will still be living in your home, so you’ll need these things on a regular basis.

But you can take the time to organize them. By doing this, you’ll show buyers how functional your kitchen and bathrooms are. You’ll also make everything appear a lot neater than usual.

7. Make Your Home as Light and Airy as Possible

You and your family might not mind the dark hallways and dimly-light rooms in your home. But whoever is thinking about buying it will probably appreciate natural light pouring into it a lot more.

Painting the walls in your home will automatically make it feel lighter. So will opening up some windows and installing brighter lightbulbs.

You don’t want people to think your home is too dark and dreary. By doing something as simple as installing a new light fixture in a hallway or room, you can make it light and give it an airiness that wasn’t present before.

8. Clean Your Home’s Carpets or Tear Them Out Completely

You may have gotten used to that big stain in the middle of the carpet in your living room. But a buyer will be completely turned off by it.

A buyer will also probably go running for the hills if all of the carpets in your home look old and need to be replaced. It’ll be an expense they might not want to take on themselves.

You should either clean your home’s carpeting if it’s on the newer side before you sell your home or tear it all out. You can replace it with new carpeting or install new flooring if you so choose.

9. Clearly Define Rooms You Don’t Use Much

Do you have a room in your home that doesn’t really have a defined purpose right now?

Maybe you have a spare bedroom that’s turned into a storage room of sorts. Or maybe you have a den that’s collecting dust.

You should take a look at all the rooms in your home and make sure they have a purpose. A buyer might have trouble imagining what they would do with a certain room in your home if they bought it.

As a result, that room will feel like a negative to them as opposed to a positive. You can give them a good idea of what it could be by staging the room to give it a clear purpose.

10. Put Up New Window Treatments

If it’s been a long time since you’ve changed the curtains, blinds, or shades on your windows, now is the perfect time to do it.

Window treatments won’t cost you a whole lot of money, but you’ll get a solid return on them. They can also enhance the look of a room without much effort on your part.

11. Have the Exterior of Your Home Landscaped

The curb appeal of your home is incredibly important. The inside of your house can look amazing. But if people pull up and the outside looks awful, they might not even bother coming in.

You should have professional landscapers come and make the exterior of your home look presentable.

By mowing your lawn, planting some flowers, and trimming a few trees, you can bring your curb appeal up significantly.

12. Place Flowers on the Various Tables Throughout Your Home

In addition to brightening up the lawn outside, you should also inject some nature into your home as well.

When you have a potential home buyer coming through or you’re holding an open house, you should place flowers on the tables inside of your home.

It will show that you make an effort to make your home look nice. It’ll also make it smell great in your home and leave everything feeling fresh.

13. Stage Your Home, If Possible

While not everyone can afford to do this, you can really bring the inside of your home to life by strategically staging it with new furniture.

Even if you haven’t gotten around to doing all of the home improvement projects you’d like to do, fresh furniture will make a home look and feel new.

A staging company can provide you with the furniture you’ll need to show buyers what they can do with your home once they move in.

14. Get Opinions From Local Realtors

Before you put your home on the market, you should get the expert opinions of three or four local real estate agents.

The best way to sell a house is by pricing it right and creating competition among buyers. Realtors can help you generate a price.

Realtors can also tell you:

What home improvements you must make before listing your home
How your home stacks up against others in the area
The selling features you should spotlight in your listing

It never hurts to speak with as many realtors as you can about selling your home.

15. Find Motivated Buyers in Your Area

If you want to sell a home very quickly, you need to find motivated buyers who are constantly looking to buy homes in your area.

I Buy Pueblo Houses will give you a strong cash offer and allow you to sell your home immediately. It’ll take all of the stress out of the home selling process.