How to sell your house fast in Grand Rapids? That’s easy, put a sign in the front yard and wait for the offers to pour in. No that is not the case. In this comprehensive selling guide, we will cover pricing strategies, preparing your home for the showings, why to have your home pre-appraised, finding the right real estate agent and even how to sell by owner.
Are you wondering what your home might sell for in today’s Grand Rapids Real Estate Market? Call 616-485-8955 or you can use my Instant Home Value calculator. It’s Free and it only takes 15 seconds. We will follow up with you once you receive your Instant Home Value estimate.
Pricing Strategies To Move That Grand Rapids Home Fast
There are really 3 things that will affect the days on market of your home. Those are listed by importance.
- Listing Price – When you are ready to sell your home make sure to have a Professional Realtor (like me, 25+ years experience) that has the knowledge and experience to price your home according to the market. Looking at the graph to the left, you’ll notice that your home will attract double the number of potential buyers than if you were priced just 10% above the market. Do not over price your home and think you can come down at a later time. More times than not if you employ this strategy you will end up selling for less money than if you priced it correctly at the beginning. You can price your home 10%-15% above market but there is a good chance that your perfect buyer will decide NOT to buy your home due to the fact that it was over priced. I’ve seen it many times where the seller wanted to TRY at a higher price and lower the price in a couple of weeks. The house would sit on the market and after weeks of little activity, the price would be reduced below what the original listing price should have been. Finally, selling below list price. Thus costing the sellers $1000’s. Do not make that mistake.
- Location – If your home is located in a quiet tree lined neighborhood with other like homes that are well cared for and are in a good school system then there is a great chance of selling your home for top dollar. If your home is located on a busy street, across from a commercial center, shopping center or industrial building then there is a good chance that you will not get the same money as the home located on the quiet tree lined street.
- Condition – Just because you like your orange shag carpeting and olive green walls that does not mean that a buyer is going to like your decorating taste. Therefore you should attempt to appeal to the masses. Replace the shag carpet, paint the walls in a neutral color, replace old worn out appliances and mechanicals (furnace, h2o heater, electrical panel ect). Today most buyers will pass your home if there are too many red flags that pop up ie orange shag carpet.
The conclusion to selling your home in a timely fashion and realizing the maximum return or should I say what you will net out of the sale of your home is simple. Price your home correctly, I can help with that. Do not over price your home. Update your home, more and more buyers are not willing to put time, money and effort into their new home purchase.
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Location! Location! Location!
The old adage of Location, Location, location is still true in the world of real estate. Maybe the adage should be Schools, Schools, Schools. When you buy your home is when you make your money. Let me explain. When buying a home it is imperative that you buy it for the right price and in a good location/school district. How do you know what a good location is? First, try and stay off a busy street and away from commercial buildings or industrial buildings in the area. This could lead to unwanted noise and traffic at undesirable times during the day or night. So how do you know where to buy a home. A good indicator would be the school district. When in a good school district, it will mean better books, teachers and better test scores. This will also help in retaining the value of your home and ensures a quicker resale of your home. In a recent survey, 19% of Americans indicated that their idea of a dream home is one that is located in an outstanding school district.
There are several reasons why you may wish to think about the quality of school districts as you plan to acquire your next home.
- A Good School District Drives Up Property Values.
- Protect Against Market Turns
- Good For Resale Purposes
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Setting Your Home Up For Success By Preparing For Showings
Ok, so you’re all set to have your home shown…Yikes, what do I do now? Getting your home ready to show should have taken place weeks or months prior to putting your home on the market.
- You’ll want to make sure that all the little repairs in the home did get completed. You’ll want to remove any red flags that could cause a buyer to bypass your home. Look for broken windows, peeling paint, knicks in the trim or drywall. I know this sounds petty but rest assured if you take care of the little things the buyer will approach your home in a more positive light.
- The second thing you’ll want to make sure is that you clean your home from top to bottom. Don’t do a so-so job because it will show. I don’t know how many homes I’ve shown and the sellers didn’t know their home showed dirty or they didn’t care. I can tell you from personal experience the buyers did an about face and went right back to the car. If the seller (you) can’t clean your home for a showing it will throw up a red flag as to what other bigger items the seller hasn’t been addressing.
- Thirdly, always make every room look as big as possible. You’re probably asking what does that mean? Well, remove any extra furniture, like a love seat that might be taking up an entire wall. This will make the room look smaller than it actually is. The same goes for your closets. If you haven’t worn a shirt or a pair of pants in a year then it’s time to donate to Goodwill. Make your closets look as big as possible!
- Clean out the garage. The garage is part of the house and if the buyer sees that you have a 2 stall garage but one stall is full of clutter, then the buyer might think that there isn’t enough storage in the house. This would be one of those red flags that you should be aware of. If necessary move any unnecessary items into a rental storage unit. This will make your home look open and roomy.
- Paint the walls. If you haven’t touched the walls in 20 years it might be time to invest a couple of bucks and time to paint those old tired looking wall. Not sure what colors to choose? Check out below in this post to get some ideas when painting a room.
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Increase Your Odds Of Selling Quickly By Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent
How do you know which real estate agent you should hire to represent you and the sale of your house?
- Make sure that they are a Realtor not just a real estate agent. A Realtor subscribes to the Realtor 2017-Code-of-Ethic and Standards of Practice. A real estate does not have to subscribe to the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.
- How many years has the agent been in business? If you’re going to hire an agent that just got their real estate license it kind of like having a operation by a doctor that just got their license. Good luck no thank you. Remember that your home is probably the largest investment that you own and you’ll want to protect your investment.
- Are they a full-time Realtor or part time? Again would you go to a part-time doctor to have an operation?
Don’t get me wrong everyone that has their real estate license had to start out as a new agent at some time but is it worth losing potentially thousands of dollars because you felt you needed to use someone you know that just got their license? Don’t feel pressured to use a friend or relative that just got their license just because they are your friend or relative.
Jerry and Pam chose the right Professional Realtor that got Professional Results. Listen to Jerry and Pam tell their story and experience with Doug Hansen.
Doug went above and beyond to sell our home in a very short amount of time and his negotiation skills were amazing! We feel very fortunate to have had Doug as our realtor and now as a very good friend.
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How to Choose the Right Colors to Sell a Home Fast
2018 Color of the Year Is Oceanside.
I must admit that I didn’t know what color Oceanside is. Well after checking out Sherwin-Williams website, I’ve found out that it is a collision of rich blue with jewel-toned green, a color that is both accessible and elusive. A complex, deep color that offers a sense of the familiar with a hint of the unknown, Oceanside, bridges together a harmonious balance of blues and greens that can be found in what’s old and new. I’m sure Sherwin-Williams had to come up with a fancier name than bluish green in order to charge a higher price for Oceanside. Now that the pricing issues have been discussed, let’s talk about interior colors of your home. Rest assured that 99% of the American population will not like orange walls from the 1960’s. Time to update the old homestead. As previously discussed in this blog, today’s buyers are not willing to put a little elbow grease and turn a house into their home. They want to be able to move in and not have to worry about picking out the color of paint and or color of the carpeting. If you are not sure what might go with Poised Taupe, click on the above link and check out colors that go together nicely.
How do you choose the right color for a room?
For instance the color for a bedroom, you might want to pull the colors out of your bedspread, curtains or furniture that you have in the room. Narrow down the number of colors that you like to maybe two or three. Next, you’ll want to buy a quart of paint of the colors that you like. No one likes to waste time and money on paint but it will be less expensive than buying gallons of paint. Now, paint the boards and let them dry. Once the boards have dried now you can start to compare how the color will interact with each other or in better terms, which colors do you like best. You can use this idea throughout your home but remember that there is a big difference between a bedroom, living room and kitchen.
So why not buy a 55-gallon drum of paint and paint the whole interior the same color? Well, you could but it wouldn’t be very attractive. It would probably be down right boring and blah. When you are selecting a color for a room you must consider the mood of the room. You certainly wouldn’t want to paint your kid’s room bright yellow. Soft, cool colors and neutrals usually create a quieter feeling while stronger colors are more dramatic. Be careful not to use bright and dramatic colors in your kids room, you don’t want to overstimulate your kids when they are going to bed. Your children might not get a good nights sleep as long as their walls are shocking yellow. Your bedrooms you’ll want the feeling of being restful and soothing.