Selling a home is a lot different than buying a home. When you’re buying, there are usually plenty of emotions involved, while selling is typically focused on maximizing the home’s profit potential. 

Get it Move-In Ready

IF at all possible, do everything you can to make your home in San Diego move-in ready before putting it on the market. Make all necessary repairs even the tiniest ones like a leaky faucet, ripped window screen, broken baseboard and loose cabinet knobs. Potential buyers are going to be looking at all the little details, inside and out. Eliminate clutter and store personal items like the kids’ art work and family photos to give them a sense of what it will be like to have their own things inside. It should be sparkling clean, so if you’re not up to the task, hire a professional as it will be worth the relatively small cost in the long run. Your home will have to be in tip-top, ready-to-show condition at all times.

Hire a Top Realtor

While you might be tempted to go FSBO, or for sale by owner, you could end up losing money in the end. The National Association of Realtors reports that over 90 percent of all FSBOs fail and sellers ultimately have to turn to a realtor anyway. If they are successful, on average, they sell for quite a bit less than a home that was sold with the assistance of a real estate agent.

Of course, hiring a top agent is key for selling your home quickly and for the best price. Try to get recommendations from friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and so on. If you’re tempted to work with the realtor who helped you buy your home, keep in mind that buyer’s agents don’t necessarily make the best seller’s agents. The best agent will have lots of experience selling homes in your area, with a proven track record and be able to offer things like a comprehensive marketing plan.

Pricing Your Home

A reputable real estate agent who sells homes frequently, ideally in your neighborhood, can help ensure that your home is priced accurately. They’ll put together what’s referred to as a comparative market analysis so that it’s not priced too low or too high. A CMA analyzes active, inactive, pending and sold listings to get the most accurate information. It will provide a lower and upper price limit – if you decide to price your home at the higher end of that range, it will likely take longer to sell, but if you aren’t in a hurry to move, that can be a good way to go, particularly during a sellers’ market. If you hope to sell as quickly as possible, you may want to choose a price at the lower end of the range as you’ll get a lot more potential buyers coming to take a look.

Be as Flexible as Possible with Showings

While there’s no doubt that having strangers come through your home on a regular basis to inspect it is rather intrusive, it’s a necessary part of the selling process. Be as flexible as you can when it comes to showings, ideally leaving the house so that agents can show your home without interference.