Selling your home on a tight timeline comes with its share of unique challenges, but it’s definitely possible if you know how to prepare. It’s important to make sure that the home is ready for the market in every way, and that means you’ll also have a tighter timeline when prepping the home to high standards. The right marketing and the help of an experienced real estate agent will make life much easier when time is of the essence. Our five insider tips for selling your home on a tight timeline are the perfect place to start when you’re aiming to sell in a hurry.
- Clean, De-clutter, and Stage
Start the process by putting your home prep in overdrive and doing some serious cleaning. Buyers want to see a home that’s clean from top to bottom. You’ll also want to de-clutter and depersonalize the house so buyers can imagine what their life would be like there. Once your home is spotless and de-cluttered, you can get busy with staging. If you need staging advice, your agent and a staging pro can both provide great tips. - High-Quality Photos
You don’t want to waste all of the work you did preparing the home by using low-quality photos for marketing, so consider professional photography for all of your home marketing needs. Professional quality photos are much better for capturing the quality of the home, the vibrancy of the landscape, and all of the little things that make the home special. Low-quality photos stand out in a negative way, especially if other nearby listings have pro photography. - Hire an Agent Who Means Business
Choosing the right real estate agent is always a critical step in getting your home sold, and it’s especially important when you’re working on a tight timeline. You want an agent who sells a high volume of homes in the area and knows how to get a property sold quickly. Ask for referrals from trusted sources, speak with multiple agents, and find the person who makes you most confident that they can handle a sale on a quick timeline. - Pick the Right Price
When you’re aiming to sell a home fast, you don’t want to waste any time picking the right price point. Ask your agent for a comparative market analysis (CMA), so that you’ll know exactly what comparable homes are selling for in your market. Choosing a price that’s far above market is likely to make your home languish on the market, but going too low will hurt your bottom line, so you’ll definitely want to price the home competitively. - Make the Most of Your Marketing
Marketing should be a top priority no matter how fast you’re trying to sell, and the right marketing tactics can really help on a tight timeline. That means marketing your home online with an attractive listing and quality photography while also making the most of traditional marketing tools. Promote open houses, use word of mouth, and work with your agent to develop a targeted marketing plan for the demographics most likely to be interested in the home.
There’s no doubt that selling your home on a tight timeline can feel a bit chaotic, which is why it’s so important to have a plan. Investing time in preparing the home and money in the right marketing plan will make it much easier to get the job done. Throughout the process, a trusted real estate agent should be your number-one source of advice for selling your home fast.