Alexandria, Lorton, Woodbridge Virginia Real Estate: 5 Home Selling Tips for the Short Sale Seller

Short selling a home is not the same as your average 30-day home sale. With much of the housing industry still saturated with short sale listings, homeowners must take a strategic approach to getting their short sale listings sold in a timely manner. Here are 5 important home selling tips for the short sale seller!

Prepare your home for the sale. Maintain pride of ownership by preparing your home for the sale. Remove excessive items from the home and repair inexpensive items. You should also remove excessive items from kitchen counter-tops and bathroom vanities. Clean the home daily ... mop, dust, vacuum ... do whatever it takes to make your home shine! Remember to "declutter" your home as well. All unwanted items should be discarded and all unnecessary items should be stored away. Buyers have hundreds of choices. If your home does not show well, buyers will simply move on to the next property.

Imagine yourself as the buyer. When you imagine yourself as the buyer, it places you in the critical mindset needed to evaluate your home. Walk through your home with pen and pad in hand and evaluate each room separately. Jot down any noticeable aversions. Pay special attention to the ceilings, carpets, floors, and walls in each room. If the walls need retouching or the carpets need cleaning, take a moment to repair and clean these items. Other minor fixes may include washing the walls and cleaning the baseboards to bring on that extra shine.

Host a mock showing. There is no better way to get an honest opinion of your home than to host a mock showing. To accomplish this task, simply invite a few friends, family members or neighbors over to rate your home. Prior to their arrival, you should prepare a few short questions regarding the appearance of your home. Questions may be open-ended, true and false, fill-in-blank or a combination of all three. To encourage honesty, allow each person to rate your home anonymously. You should also wait to view the opinions of your guests after they have all departed for the evening.

Rearrange your furniture. Rearranging your furniture is a very inexpensive way to showcase the features of your home. Larger items such as sofas, couches and large chairs should be placed against a wall to avoid the appearance of a much smaller room. Do not place large items in front of the window. Doing so will prevent sunlight from entering the room. When rearranging your furniture, items should be strategically placed to maximize the flow of energy in the home. To arrive at the perfect look and feel throughout the home, you may need to move smaller items from one room and place them in another. Borrowing items from one room and placing them in another will help create a fresh new look in every room in the house.

Price to entice. Short selling your home can be a lengthy process. This means the new buyers may be under contract with you for several months before closing and moving into their new home. To keep the new buyers motivated, you must ensure that your home is "priced to entice" … in other words, priced to sell. Overpricing your home is simply not an option if you expect a qualified buyer to wait several months to close on your home. Your REALTOR® should be able to assist you with properly pricing your home. Although each neighborhood is different, as a general rule you should probably consider pricing your home approximately 5% less than regular home sales in your neighborhood.

For additional information or to confidentially discuss the possibility of short selling your home, please contact me for assistance.

If you are interested in buying or selling real estate in Alexandria, Lorton, Woodbridge or any of the surrounding areas in northern Virginia and Maryland, please contact me for assistance. My specializations include first-time home buyers, home sellers, luxury homes, short sales, foreclosures, relocation, and divorce.