Getting Ready to Sell in the New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here at Century 21 MVP we have a fantastic team and we are working hard to get ready to serve you in the upcoming year. Please read below to assist you if you are thinking of selling your property. Contact me with any questions. I would love to be your Realtor in 2023!

Do not list during the Christmas holidays, nor during the first week of
January. List, if you are prepared, the second week of January. The holidays
are not “dead in the water” for sales, but you will certainly have a lower
number of serious buyers. Even if you get a contract in December, the
closing will struggle to make it through the inspection and title process. It is
possible, but it will take a miracle, and will very well cost you money on your
sale.

We have a new group of buyers at the first of every year that decide to wait
to get through the holidays and start a new year. Those are your target
buyers.

For selling in 2023: this will be a year to put “ready to move in” property on
the market. You will have more competition than you had last year so plan to
put your best foot forward.

Go ahead and have an inspection and see what you might be looking at
when a buyer does their own. Fix the items that are a showstopper! You
may be surprised at what we will recommend and don’t recommend. Let
me come and walk through your house and give you some feedback.

My broker shared a personal story with us recently. She was selling her own
home years ago, that had a kitchen window with a broken seal. She was
sure, her agent, who was also her best friend, would want her to have the
window replaced before I listed it. But the agent said “No, let’s wait. It
might not even be important to the next buyer!” All my broker could think
about was that window! Especially when she looked through the glass
watching the sunrise over Mt.Leconte while making breakfast for her kids.
However, sure enough when the buyer made the “list of repairs” it wasn’t
on it! Your priorities may not be those of you buyers!

But the items that jump out at you as your buyer walks to the front door,
those are the things to pay attention to. Fix them! Especially shrubbery
making your home look like a haunted house! Many of us never go to our
front door. We go through a side door or the garage! You need to take the
front door walk and be in a critical mood!

It will also be a year to “stage your house.” Pack up! You are moving! Move
the boxes to the garage! Buyers will tolerate boxes in the garage but not
small rooms. Too much clutter makes a room seem smaller and clutter just
multiplies the longer you live in a house, so be brutal with yourself and
make trips to donate to Goodwill. Make them your best friend.

If you do choose to have your own home inspection done, you may want to
offer the report and all your list of repairs and receipts as a perk to the
buyer! It will save them money, give them comfort, and say a lot about you
as a seller.

Finally, If you are selling an overnight rental property, then prepare to get
your year-end revenue from your rental company. As your agent I would like
to give them a gross number as this is what your competition will be giving
them. I also would not advise giving out your expenses as no two years are
alike. These changes can make the income appear over or under promising,
so there’s not really a way to win from offering that.

With these tips in mind as you prepare to sell, you will be ahead of the
competition when you are ready to place your home on the market.