Every day and week that your house sits on the market, brokers and buyers will progressively lose interest. When a home doesn’t sell within the first 30 days, agents and their clients begin to wonder if there’s a problem with the property, and tend to avoid showings and writing offers. Whether you’re working with an agent, or going the for sale by owner route, it’s critical to get things right as soon as possible in the selling process.

Here are some quick tips from Phoenix Home Buyers, Offer Climb on home-selling strategies that will lower your days on market and bring you the best value.

1. Price Your Home to Sell

When it comes to getting your house sold fast, the most important factor is the listing price. No matter what condition, or where the property is located, the right price will get it sold.

How do you know if your house is priced to sell?

The only way to know is by looking at what similar properties in the neighborhood have recently sold for. This is typically called a Comparative Market Analysis, or CMA for short. CMAs are often prepared by agents or brokers, but you can do some of the research yourself.

The problem is the data you’ll find on the major real estate listing sites is frequently incomplete or out of date.

Relying on these sites and their AVMs, or automated valuation models, to determine the price will usually cause you to list for too much, and sell for too little. The automated values don’t accurately consider all the unique qualities of the property, or the economic factors that influence the location.

2. Get a Home Inspection

Right from the beginning, even before you list your property, you should get a home and pest inspection. This will alert you to many of the hidden issues that could have a disastrous impact once the property is in escrow.

It’s better to take care of needed repairs or termite problems before the buyer finds out via their own inspections. This will also allow you additional pricing power and marketability by addressing these issues and making potential buyers aware of the completed and planned repairs.

3. Make a Strong First Impression

Whether you’re showcasing your property online or in-person, it’s critical that the buyers are impressed the first time they become aware of your property. For whatever price range and finish level they’re searching in, you want your property to make an impact.

The best way to achieve this is by taking high quality digital photos using a DSLR camera. If you don’t have photography equipment, it is worth the extra expense to hire a professional that can provide you with HD photos, aerial shots, a virtual tour, and a full-featured property website.

Take the time to clean and organize your house inside and out. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it may even need repairs, but tidying up and doing your best to make it appealing will get your home sold faster.

4. Let it Show!

Now that your home is priced fairly, and you’ve done your best to present, it’s time to open the doors and introduce your future buyers to the home of their dreams.

Hold an open house and ask your agent (you can also do this yourself if selling ‘For Sale by Owner’) to personally call or visit all the neighbors in the area to invite them over. Current resident’s family and friends commonly purchase new listings, sometimes at a premium.

Showing availability, or the times and days you’re willing to allow agents and buyers to view the property, has a direct impact on how long it takes to sell your house and how much you’ll walk away with. If you want to sell your home fast, allow your agent to install an electronic lockbox and give permission to show the property anytime, with notice.

5. Choosing the Right Buyer and Offer - Price Isn’t Everything

When you’re evaluating the multitude of offers you’ll receive by following the advice here, you’ll have a good bit of work determining which offer is the strongest. Sometimes the highest price doesn’t mean the best offer.

Important terms to look at are the escrow period, deposit amount, financing method, down payment size, pre-qualification, credit scores, and the amount of cash that the buyer has on hand. The financial strength and creditworthiness of the buyer is extremely important. The more funds the buyer is attempting to leverage, by reducing their down payment, the greater risk to you.

This is also known as the Loan to Value Ratio or LTV. A high LTV signals greater risk to lenders and may cause problems in getting underwriter approval late in the escrow period. When the borrower is asking for less, and applying more of their own funds (skin-in-the-game), there is a much higher likelihood that the buyer will be approved for the loan.

If the house appraises for less than expected, a buyer with a larger down payment will be more capable of paying the difference between the selling price and the appraised value. The appraised value is typically the most that conventional lenders will finance.

Summing it Up

You’ve priced your home to sell, taken care of the inspections, cleaned up and taken great photos, and allowed agents and buyers plenty of showing times and easy access; now you’re ready to ride the rollercoaster and start taking offers!

When and if you face challenges in getting your house ready to sell and through escrow, reach out to experienced professionals that understand your needs, the local real estate market, and will guide you to home-selling success.