Home Selling Secrets: Ways to Make Your Listing Stand Out from the Pack

Homes for sale tend to blend together, especially if you’ve been looking at a lot of listings in a short amount of time.

This is why, when a home stands out from the rest, it really stands out.

An impressive home listing will have buyers climbing over each other to get their offer on the table. How do you achieve this for your own real estate listing? Hint: your home doesn’t have to be ritzy or a fabulous estate, it just has to follow these home selling secrets.

4 Secret Tips to Sell Your Home Faster

For those in the know, these tips can equal a faster sale and a better deal for you.

1. Clear Out the Closets

Before showing your home, take the time to clear out your closets. This doesn’t mean you have to empty them completely – after all, you still live there.

Instead, clean them out until they’re about half empty. Box up your stuff you use the least and put it in temporary storage (in your attic, in a storage facility, or in a rental pod). Organize the leftovers neatly, and keep closets tidy while your house is on the market. Snoopy buyers will love to see how much storage you’ve got.

2. Hide All Evidence of Pets

A home with pet hair all over everything and that distinct animal smell is unappealing for any buyer – even those with pets.

Before you show, hide your pets’ stuff and evidence that they live there. Remove food and water bowls, litter boxes, dog toys, scratching posts, etc. Vacuum up the pet hair and get your carpet cleaned. Send your pets to daycare on the days you are showing your home.

3. Price It Just Right

Overpricing your home is a death sentence for your real estate listing.

The right realtor will do a lot of homework to make sure it’s priced right, but you also have to ensure it’s priced to sell. A good tip is to figure out the right market price, then reduce that by 15-20%. Buyers will fall all over themselves to make bids, and you’ll find that many will be way over your asking price.

It can be unnerving to low-ball your listing price, but the brave will find that this strategy pays off in the end.

4. De-Personalize

A real turn-off for buyers can be the fact that you left way too much evidence of yourself and your family in the home.

Put it this way: buyers will have a harder time imagining themselves living there if your personal stamp is still all over it. To this end, remove most of the family photos, collections, memorabilia, and keepsakes. Stash away your trophies, plaques, and diplomas. Make it easier for home buyers to imagine their own stuff in every room.

Use Home Selling Secrets and Make the Sale

Home staging can be pretty straight-forward once you know the tricks. Use these secrets for improving your real estate listing and your house will be off the market as fast as you can say “buyer-friendly.”