If you are thinking about downsizing in Atlanta, you want to read this before you sell your home or call a real estate agent.
At Your Move Simplified, we want to help owners like you sell a home to buyers, without stress and drama. As home prices in Atlanta have soared, and you’ve probably spent hours on real estate sites, and asking local real estate agents “what’s my house worth?” This may definitely have encouraged you to sell your home, or at least contact a local real estate agent about what your house is worth.
As the homeowner, if you are ready to sell your home, there are important things to think about, maybe even before you choose a realtor. Selling your home and looking for a new potential home can be an exciting time for some and overwhelming for others.
There is a home selling process, and for most that starts with a conversation with your real estate agent. When you invite a real estate agent to list your home, (or if you decide to go for sale by owner), you will discuss the list price of your home and the status of the real estate market (is it a buyer’s market or a seller’s market). There is also a discussion about the condition of your home. Before you do a home inspection, you as the home owner (and seller) should ask yourself important questions from the perspective of a home buyer.
Ask yourself this if you want to attract more buyers, get a high price for your home, and sell fast in Atlanta.
Is your home ready for its close-up? Is your home picture ready for the first impression? The pictures are part of marketing your home, and selling a home in Atlanta. Let’s talk about how you can put your home in its best light so you can sell it to a buyer asap. This will make it easier for your listing agent to find a buyer for your home. This question is more important than the listing price for your home.
The first impression matters when you need to sell your Atlanta Home
Almost every Atlanta seller who decides to put their home for sale will need to spend some time downsizing and decluttering (there is irrefutable evidence that less-cluttered homes sell faster.) Taking time to let go of the things you are no longer using, have outgrown, are broken or belong to someone else (think the rake you borrowed from your neighbor) will give you a head start to sell your house, and of course, to sell your home fast. You may even need to repair some items before you can have an open house.
The cost to decluttering will be made up in the higher sale price of your home, and with the hundreds of homes we have helped in the list process, we have seen this happen 100% of the time.
The best way to sell your home in Atlanta is to declutter before you list your house
The big question is where to begin. There are lots of books, blogs and TV shows offering all kinds of advice on getting your home in better order and increasing your home value. This is part of the selling process, and it will help you get top dollar when you list your house. The one thing they all have in common is that we all have too much stuff in our homes, and this can affect the final sale price. Scott Johnson, owner of Your Move Simplified says, “As a seller, you don’t need to go to the extreme and become a minimalist before you sell your house to appeal to buyers. You need to focus on surface areas, and the areas where buyers are likely to pay most attention.”
Depending on how much time you have before getting your home on the market and how much needs to be done to achieve that picture-perfect effect, you can make a difference in the amount of stuff you have. Having less stuff for buyers to look at and for you to pack later for your move is a win- win.
Here’s a list of what you can do as a seller to help increase your home sale price before you list:
1) Ask your Georgia real estate agent to give you a home staging report when you are ready to sell.
If your real estate agent provides you with a staging report from a staging professional the focus of the report will be on the things that can be seen in pictures- the layout of rooms, lighting and clear surfaces, etc. Staging will make your home more appealing and will get your house sold faster, (and maybe even allow you to sell to a cash buyer).
It’s important for the buyer to imagine themselves in your home, and staging can help significantly. The right sofa, rugs, and decor will allows a buyer to see their future home, and not your current home. Your Atlanta real estate agent will probably recommend that you hide your personal memorabilia, photos, picture frames, and other items. The person buying your house needs to see a blank slate, and not your personal items.
Yes, you may have to financially invest a bit in staging your home. In our experience, staged homes sell faster.
If you don’t have a home-stager, we are happy to recommend one from our professional network.
You should work with an Atlanta real estate agent if you want to sell your Atlanta home.
2) When selling a house in Georgia, make sure you get your house ready for the buyers by cleaning out the cabinets and drawers, especially in the kitchen.
When you are showing your home, a buyer will immediately start opening closets, drawers, and cabinets in your home. Over-stuffed cabinets, drawers that won’t close and things falling out of closets when doors opened will be off putting to buyers. Buyers will pay extra attention to the kitchen and primary suite. These two spaces should shine extra bright. Avoid items stored on the kitchen floor, especially items like dusty and dirty items on the counters.
In your primary bedroom make sure there aren’t many items under the bed, the closet isn’t too full (consider packing away off-season clothing) and don’t forget about the primary bath. Think of a relaxing spa as inspiration for your primary bath. A home without clutter will be a clean space for potential buyers to envision themselves in their future home.
And a side benefit is that decluttering these areas will help you when you are ready to move.
You can always ask your local real estate agent to do a walk through with you to make sure that these spaces look tidy enough for photos and an open house. Trust us, this will help you sell your house asap.
3) As a seller, you should spend some time cleaning out storage areas such as the basement, attic and garage before you list your Atlanta home.
We know that you want to sell your home fast in Atlanta. We recommend reducing the amount of stuff stored in the storage areas of your home, like your basement, attic, and garage. We know that you’ve lived in your home for years, and sometimes decades. You’ve accumulated lots of things like: soccer equipment, trophies, 4 sets of dishes for each holiday season. This is normal and a local real estate agent can expect stuff in your storage spaces.
But, when a home lacks storage, the buyer wants to find a home that has storage, and they have a hard time imagining how all of their things will fit into the home you are selling. This won’t allow you to sell your home fast. Make sure you do this step before you post your home on the MLS.
4) One way to sell your home fast to a home buyer is to hire a professional.
If you don’t have time to do go through the declutter process before you need to sell your home and make it appealing to buyers, consider hiring our team of professional organizers and move-strategists at Your Move Simplified.
Putting your house on the market can be stressful. We’ve worked with hundreds of sellers in Georgia, and we can tell you that the decluttering process will help sell your house fast.
How Your Move Simplified can help you sell a house fast in Atlanta, Ga
At Your Move Simplified, we understand sellers who want to sell their home fast in Atlanta, Georgia.
Your Move Simplified is your go-to local Atlanta pre-move strategist team. We help you downsize your home and help you list your home for sale. This whole process is stress-free for you as a seller. No home is too big for us, and we have helped sellers put their house for sale (homes anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 square feet in the Atlanta area).
We work with your realtor to help you sell your home fast in Ga
We can work with your realtor to help you when you’re ready to sell your home in Georgia.
And don’t worry, if you don’t have a local real estate agent in Atlanta, we can connect you with some of our most trusted agents in our network. They are some of the top Atlanta real estate agents.
At Your Move Simplified, we understand buyers and sellers
Sometimes, it can be hard for you to decide what you will keep, and what you will toss. Our team at Your Move Simplified is non-judgmental. We understand that you have things that you value that you want to keep. We are here to help Georgia home sellers like you present their home in the best light possible. We think about buyers and what they need to see in the home buying process. This allows us to work with you so you can list your property for sale, get top dollar, and turn over the house keys to the new buyer in no time.
Call us today if you are selling a house in Georgia
You can call or text us anytime, we are available for you.
