How to Sell a House

What really is the point of an open house?

There are a few different styles and some right and wrong ways to do them. Should you just plan one because it’s the thing to do? Or should you have your agent strategically hold an open house that is properly marketed to help drive the max amount of potential buyers there?

What is it about open houses that help increase your chances of landing the most suitable buyer? What must you know about open houses? All of that planning, preparing, and strategizing with open houses is unfolded in today’s episode. Listen in now!

Key Takeaways:

• Open houses are a great marketing strategy to get your home in front of more buyers.
• The frenzy of open houses can create interesting situations. Use the opportunity to maximize your house’s accessibility to as many potential buyers as possible.
• The downsides to doing a mega open house, include having uninvited guests, like some of your neighbors showing up.
• Having a plan can help you make the best out of open-house showings
• Make your home as presentable as possible before an open house.
• Arrange your home showing more like a movie premiere. Get feedback and use it to build momentum.

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Once you get your home on the market you need to get prepped for the next stages - showings, offers, and negotiations. How do you go about getting mentally prepared for that?

Showings are obviously a bit unnerving because you’re constantly worried about the cleanliness, care, and maintenance of the house while people are checking it out. Maybe you have pets in the house or maybe you have young kids who take naps throughout the day. In this episode, we’ll get into some tips for how to prepare for that as well as the next stage which is dealing with offers and negotiations.

What you’ll learn:

• Preparing for the first weekend of showings.
• Make it as easy on yourself as possible.
• When you go through the offer, be sure to look at factors other than the pricing, like the escrow timeline, financing of the buyer, and more.
• What if you’re getting no offers on your home? Maybe you need to lower the price. 
• What to do if you get multiple offers?
• What are some secondary negotiations? Request for repairs.

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Real estate markets are as dynamic as the communities they serve. A home may have been a seller’s market one year and a buyer’s market the next. Should you buy your new house before you sell your old house or vice versa?

Let’s get into the different factors that influence that decision in this episode of the How To Sell a House podcast. Chris, Cassidy, and Loren get into the pros and cons of buying before selling and help you decide the timing in a way that gives you the most value and peace of mind. Listen in now!

What you’ll learn:

• Should I buy a new home before selling my current home? 
• The first question you want to ask yourself… is financially feasible to buy your new home before selling your old home. Chat with a lender or someone knowledgeable to figure out if you can afford it.
• What are the pros and cons of putting your home on the market?

Pros:

• You can go buy your new house, fix it up, move into it, and then put your other home on the market, it can be done without the hassle.
• It’s a little less stressful without the two escrows and other moving parts.
• You’re not contingent.

Cons:

• Financial hassles
• When you make an offer on another house, you’re going to have to write in a “contingent”.
• Mortgage rates could change in the timeframe of you buying a new home and then selling your current home.
• Make sure you have a cushion if your timing of selling isn’t exactly what you want.

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Commissions, preparation, escrow, title, pre-inspection…after all is said and done how much does it cost to sell a house? Having an idea of all the costs involved will help you figure out what you’ll end up walking away with after the sale.

Are all of these factors costs or are some investments? One important factor is hiring an awesome agent. Not only does a great agent's experience help in making the sale faster and for more money, but their contacts, connections, and resources will help you make more informed decisions about the different aspects of the selling process and ultimately put more money in your pocket.

Do not miss out on this important conversation!

Here are a few of the many questions you’ll find answers for:

• Is hiring an agent a cost or an investment? Remember, an agent’s fee depends on the different services they offer. So make a note of it before deciding to hire someone.
• Why termite pre-inspection is easy and recommended, especially in Southern California.
• How to prepare your home before you get into escrow? What are the different costs involved in it?
• What are closing costs? How are they calculated?
• How and why should you determine your moving costs ahead of time?
• Bonus: How can you minimize some of these costs and get the best bang for your buck?

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When you think about it, selling a house is a pretty big commitment. And you want to know when is the best time to sell?

We understand why so many home sellers are concerned about the best time of year to sell their house. There’s so much riding on the outcome and it’s important to make informed decisions so you can put the most cash in your pocket!

So, when is the best time to sell your house? That’s what we get into in this episode of the How To Sell A House podcast with Cassidy, Chris, and Loren!

What you’ll learn:

• Determining the best time to sell your house.
• A lot comes down to your current situation.
• What’s the current market and when are you more likely to get the deal you want?
• Start with your ideal date and work backward with your agent to come up with a plan for the best time to sell your house.
• Find a time when your house looks the best  - is it Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Summer time?
• Zillow and Redfin have data centers that can help you assess if it’s the right market condition to sell and tell you what’s happening right now.
• When is the best time to put your house in front of buyers?
• The best time to sell your house is when there’s no inventory. Demand dictates pricing!

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The process of getting your house sale-ready includes a number of items: painting, flooring, and potentially remodeling, among other things. But what if you knew about the most important upgrades that are 100% guaranteed to increase your house value? 

Learn about how to sell your house for more money in this episode of the How To Sell A House podcast. You’ll be surprised how simple repairs, fixes, and cleanings have a huge ROI. 

Start by sitting down with your agent ahead of time to figure out what upgrades make the most sense so you’re not flushing money down the drain!

Some lessons on house upgrades:

• Don’t use the trial and error method, especially when it comes to choosing the colors for your house. Hire a colorist instead of painting and repainting.
• Luxury vinyl plank flooring is becoming more and more popular. It happens to be more durable too.
• Lighting is the first thing your eye goes to. Make sure you do it right.
• Get your agent to turn on all the lights before a showing.
• If you’re going to do big projects, think about doing all of them. Don’t make one area look spectacular only to make the others look dated.
• What are some of the top things you can do to improve your curb appeal? Painting, Planting, Landscaping
•  Hard flooring (i.e no carpet) is more of a trend now than it has ever been.
• What are the biggest mistakes people make when upgrading their homes? Make sure everything is functioning properly (doors, windows, HVAC, etc)

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What can you do to improve the sale price of your house prior to putting it on the market?

Get ready for 7 quick, inexpensive, and easy DIY tips to increase your house’s sale value! In this episode of How To Sell Your House Loren, Chris, and Cassidy take a tour of the most essential + noticeable areas to work on to give your house a better look almost instantly. These include landscaping, furnishing, and a little paint!

Points to look out for:

• Landscaping is one of the easiest ways to increase curb appeal.
• Your front door can add a lot of appeal to your house – make it pop with a different color if it helps.
• Replace or enhance the roof especially if you have trees leaning or rubbing against it.
• Update your fixtures and hardware: kitchen appliances, sinks, bathroom fixtures, etc.
• Check your door knobs, hinges, paint, and related items before putting it for sale.
• Don’t get too trendy. Remember you have to sell it to someone else’s taste.
• Compare your home with the other new ones on the market.

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The current market is the most important thing when it comes to knowing how long it will take to sell your house. In today’s episode, Chris, Cassidy, and Loren explain how to assess the market conditions, prepare your house for sale, and price it according to the state of the market it’s located in. Get to know the average time it takes to sell in specific locations and make an estimate of how long it would take for you to sell your house.

Points to look out for:

• How long will it take to sell your house? It all depends on the market conditions.
• Some things to look out for when figuring out how long it would take to sell your house: How well did you prepare the property? How good are the pictures? How’s the marketing looking?
• What is escrow time?
• What’s the ballpark timeline for someone looking to sell their house?
• Some of the biggest factors that affect the timeline of selling your home: Location, House Condition, & Pricing
• Pricing Tip 1: The problem with price reductions: When you do a price reduction, sometimes, people wait for the next one and you've already lost a big portion of the buyer pool.
• Pricing Tip 2: If timing is important, have your house priced a little bit under the market.
• Pricing Tip 3: The third pricing strategy is pricing at the market.

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Need a 6-month timeline for preparing your house for sale? There’s a lot to do but you have the time. We get into remodeling, cleaning, pricing, marketing, and a bunch of other stuff and walk you through all of the planning and prep in today's episode. But before you begin remember your priorities – What's going to have the biggest ROI on the sale? Focus on that.

Here are a few of the other things we get into today:

• Decluttering: If you have a lot of clutter in your home, getting it organized down to a list is a huge starting point. This also includes prioritizing and delegating tasks, like contacting a junk collection company to get rid of unwanted stuff.
• Getting the exterior of your house to look pretty, including cleaning up the lawn.
• Deciding whether to donate stuff like books and furniture or sell them.
• Getting into the repairs – damaged/foggy windows, doors, hinges, get them all repaired.
• Make sure your house is picture-ready. These days, cameras can even show any dust on the surface. Make sure your house is kept perfectly clean.
• Getting through all of it could be quite a task, which is why you can always contact us to help you with your house sale!

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It could be a challenge preparing your house for sale in a short amount of time – unless – you have expert help! In today's episode, we're walking you through the steps to declutter your house and make it sale-ready FAST. Tune in to find out how!

Key Takeaways:

• If you have a lot of clutter in your house, the first step is to prepare a list that will help you prioritize and put together the tasks to be done. If you feel it's overwhelming, hire someone to help you with it.
• Download the checklist and break it down into smaller tasks that can be done right away. Next, focus on the tasks that would take a little more time. 
• Get rid of the things you don't need or use anymore.
• If you're moving a long distance, take into account the costs of moving your furniture or any other large items.
• Think about how prospective buyers will view your home.
• It all boils down to decluttering, depersonalizing, and neutralizing.

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