Dear Olivia,
I want 2020 to be the year I sell my home. What should I do to make that dream a reality?
Sincerely,
Ready to Own
The great thing about selling a home in 2020 is that you have lots of time to prepare! January is the time to start laying the groundwork for selling a home, that way you can put your plan into motion in the coming months.
Besides, it’s looking like 2020 will be a year with lots of real estate movement. That assumption is based on 2019 data and how January is going so far. If predictions are correct, starting the process sooner rather than later will allow you to get a jumpstart on other folks who have a similar goal of selling their property.
To help you get started, here’s a few tips.
Talk to a Realtor
The first thing you should do is find a Realtor – even if you don’t think you’ll be ready to sell a home for six months or more.
Having a Realtor working for you means you get all the information you need about how the market is behaving and what your home might be worth.
Additionally, if you’re thinking of selling your current home and buying a new one, a Realtor can take your wish list for your new home, use the MLS to search for matches, and present you with a short-list of homes that could be the one for you. And when it comes time to negotiate with the seller, Realtors handle that as well!
Start Market Preparations
Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels
Chances are you’ll need to sell your current home to buy the next one. This means that you’ll need to get your current home market-ready.
If you start now while the weather is cold, you can give the interior spaces of your home a deep cleaning while also decluttering and depersonalizing the property.
What I usually don’t recommend is a major renovation prior to selling your home. However, there are some things you can do to make your house more attractive that won’t break the bank, like fresh paint and new flooring. Updating the home’s surface finishes and color palette will go a long way in making your home more attractive to buyers.
Get Market Data
Lastly, once you’ve found the right Realtor for you, ask them to compile information on the market data for your price point.
One of the big pieces of this is Days on Market (DOM).
Usually, this time of year, DOM is longer because the market tends to slow down when it’s cold and snowy out. For sellers, this is a bit of a disadvantage because homes tend to stay on the market longer. Of course, if you will also be searching for a new home, this works to your advantage because there are fewer buyers this time of year, so there’s less competition.
As the weather warms up and more homes come on the market and more buyers are active, DOM tends to decrease. This indicates a seller’s market, which, again, is advantageous if you’re selling a home, but if you’re buying a new one, you could find that the home you want get snatched up more quickly by another buyer.
Having details like this about current market behavior can help you in a number of ways, from how to price your home to how aggressive you are with negotiating the price of the property. It’s this kind of information from a Realtor that can prove so valuable as you seek to reach your real estate goals in 2020.
Good luck in 2020!
~Olivia