If you have made it here, chances are pretty good that you are thinking about selling your home. Thinking about selling your home always comes with plenty of questions. We’ve broken down the process by putting together 5 things you need to know before selling your home to help you go from just thinking about it, to really going through with it.

One of the worst mistakes you can make as a homeowner is assuming that all there is to selling your home is contacting a real estate agent and letting them do all of the work or if you’re planning to sell it yourself, all you have to do is list your home on the market. Neither of these things are true in the slightest, there is a lot of work that goes into selling a home!

Now that we’ve burst your bubble you are probably left wondering, ˜What do I need to know to sell my house? We are here to share the 5 things you need to know before selling your home.

Information

As in other areas of your life, information is vital, so the more you have the better. When it comes to selling your home you need to gather together a variety of information and the more specific the better. When gathering information you want to include more than just how many bedrooms and bathrooms the home has, you will also want to include the age of the roof, hot water heater, furnace, and A/C unit. You should also include the dates of any major remodeling projects, such as new carpet, kitchen remodels, etc.

Along with information you are going to want to gather together important paperwork that will need to be passed on to the next owner, such as any warranties and instruction manuals on your appliances, furnace, hot water heater, etc.

Timing

Knowing when to sell your home is very important. In most cases the best time to sell a home is during the spring months, but you have to do what works best for you. Consider all of the pros and cons of the different time frames to determine what one works best for your needs.

Inspections

When putting in an offer, most homeowners hinge the offer on a home inspection. Having a home inspection done before listing your home can help alert you to any potential problems. Which also gives you time to address any potential issues that could come up later when people become interested in your house. Other inspections you should consider having done are pest, chimney, radon, well water, and septic.

Preparing your home

As we mentioned above, selling your home is not a simple matter of contacting a real estate agent or simply listing it. If you are serious about selling your home you need to prepare it. Preparing your home means fixing the things that need to be repaired, painting, cleaning up the home, and most importantly decluttering the home. When you are selling your home you want to make a good first impression on potential buyers, so take the time to make your house look nice.

Pricing

Just because you owe a specific amount on your home doesn’t mean your home is really worth that much nor does it guarantee you will be able to sell it for that amount. You want to price your home right from the beginning, none of that starting high and going down stuff. The most traffic you will see is within the first 30 days of listing your home, so pricing it too high will deter people from looking.