What to Do to Sell Your House: A 14-Tip Home Selling Checklist

You might also consider having the boiler serviced and an electrical installation condition report carried out. Review your Energy Performance Certificate – particularly if the EPC was done some time ago, consider whether it reflects your property now. For example, have you had a new boiler or insulation fitted since the certificate was awarded?

Valuations and price

There are plenty of ways to get assistance with the chosenflatfee process, including websites such as fsbo.com and forsalebyowner.com that showcase homes across the country. Homeowners who choose the for sale by owner option lead all or most of the process, from listing the home and showing it to prospective buyers, to negotiating the deal and closing. Free cash offer to sell your house fast within minutes, any condition, any location. The quickest and fastest way to sell your home is with We Buy Any Home.

Just answer a few questions about your home and receive a no-obligation cash offer in as few as 48 hours. If you accept the offer, you can skip showings and repairs and close in as little as 10 days without agent fees or listing costs. The home selling process can be both time-consuming and stressful, not to mention that it is one of the most important financial decisions you’ll ever make. Selling “for sale by owner” may save you a few bucks on paying a listing agent’s commission, but overall, selling without an agent can cost you money, time, and stress.

Step 1: Decide how you’re going to sell

The process usually calculates a number within 90-95% of your home’s full market value. Following a home inspection or appraisal checklist may turn out to be one of the best actions you can take to avoid unexpected delays in your home sale journey. See tip 14 to learn how a pre-listing home inspection can give sellers a huge advantage. Top agents know what buyers want and what features help homes sell for the best price. They know which investments can increase your home’s value by as much as 35% – and what changes not to make. “Trust your real estate agent that they know what they’re doing, and that goes with picking a Realtor® who you trust.

If you’ve considered the pros and cons and decided to put your home on the market, here are some steps you can take to get the best deal possible. “You can get a very good price by leveraging high buyer demand,” says Dino DiNenna, a Realtor with Southern Lifestyle Properties in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Lock up everything truly irreplaceable in a safe location before you open your home to strangers. Don't let your buyers walk around unsupervised; if they ask for a moment alone, try to give them some privacy in the yard or the kitchen.

They aren’t based in branches, which mean they can be on hand 7 days a week; to help at every step. Hire a top agent who really understands your market and has the experience to develop a winning strategy. Overall, the bigger cleaning projects should already be completed. Your goal for last-minute visitors should be to focus on those final touches to help diminish a cluttered or lived-in look. Some states require an attorney during the closing process. And your agent should keep you informed once it’s scheduled.

Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Work with your real estate agent to decide when the best time to put your house on the market is where you live, and then use that as a target date to have your home sale-ready. The content on this site is not intended to provide legal, financial or real estate advice.

Can you sell a home with a mortgage?

A contingency allows the buyer to back out of the sale and get their deposit back. The buyer must state how much they’ll provide as a deposit. But there are other factors you should consider before accepting an offer.

Also consider whether there are any recommendations you could implement to improve the energy efficiency of your property. More information about EPCs, including how to find an accredited assessor, can be found on the government’s website. More advice on negative equity can be found from the Money Advice Service. If your budget permits, a fresh coat of paint never hurts – even if it’s just on the front door or the garage door. Enter a few details about your home and we’ll provide you with a preliminary estimate of home value in less than two minutes.

Cleaning and tidying your yard, repainting if necessary and upgrading outdoor fixtures can all make your home more attractive to buyers. These are the kinds of questions you’ll have to consider to gauge whether a bidder’s high offer is really the best one on the table. Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money. Taylor Getler is a home and mortgages writer for NerdWallet.