Home selling can be very daunting if you do not know the various procedures, laws and steps involved.  You have to decide if you are going to sell your house on your own or use a real estate agent.  The 3% agent’s commission will actually be thousands of dollars. More and more people opt for home selling privately as the commission amount equals 3 month’s income of an average Australian’s wages.  

If you choose to use an agent for home selling, you should do so with a legal agreement.  The laws governing this agreement differs with each state but the essential features of the agreements should be the agreement duration, the agent commission, fees and other charges, the details about who pays for advertising the sale and so on.  Internet has made the process easier. If you decide to sell your house yourself, be ready to take on the stress and responsibility it involves.  There are several websites dedicated to home selling by owners. You can list your home for free and display its photographs on these sites or even virtual tours. They also provide advice and tips on home selling.

Steps before home selling

Pricing: You can review the listings of houses in your area to compare the asking prices to get an idea of the prices of similar houses. You can also ask the local real estate agents for market analysis of homes in your neighbourhood to know how the asking price is arrived at by using parameters like the size and condition of the house, location and others.  Make sure that you do not overprice or under price the house as it will result in the house sitting in the market for long.  You can even consider using the services of a licensed independent professional to value your house to set an accurate selling price.

Prepare the house for sale: De-personalize the house by removing family photos or family heirlooms.  You should make the house appear fresh and presentable to the buyer by repainting it, removing clutter and cleaning every nook and corner. Make repairs to broken tiles, cracks in walls or leaky taps etc. Vacuum the entire house and pressure wash the side walks and garage to make it look spic and span.  Replace old curtains, rugs and towels with new ones. De-odorize the whole house as it is very important in home selling as smelly homes put off buyers. To give your house a good curb appeal, clean the exteriors, mow the lawns, remove bushes and have flowering plants.

Home Staging: This is an important step in home selling. By staging your home you can influence the potential buyer to want to buy it. Professional home stagers are skilled in making the house appear attractive to the buyers by using various methods of presenting the house. You can do the home staging yourself by re-arranging furniture, using different fabrics and drapery to create a welcoming ambience and display antique elements. Keep reports ready: Have the necessary reports ready such as a pest control report or up to date tax paid reports and mortgage and other reports.

A successful home selling depends on how well you are prepared to meet the challenges of the process.