Getting your house ready to sell can create all types of stress and anxiety. If you’re like most sellers who are nervous and don’t know how to prepare, the right approach can attract the right buyers so you can have the best deal price possible for your home. 

Selling your home can consume you a lot of time and can be overwhelming. Making your home ready can increase your chance of getting a solid offer from a buyer. Follow these must-do steps and have your home ready for the market.

Prepare With A Seller’s Mind

The first step is to put yourself in a seller's shoes. Research the value of your home. You can gather a few pieces of financial information. Having the knowledge and idea about your estimated payoff amount on your current mortgage including your remaining balance, and interest can give you an idea of potential profit as you set your listing price.

You can do comparable sales of similar homes you have in your neighborhood, compare them, and figure out your appropriate listing price. You can also have an Indiana real estate agent and have your home CMA. The documents will then be compared to your home and the recently closed sales in the market to know and determine its list price. Look closely at this data. Pay close attention to various details such as square footage, location, and features. 

Find a Listing Agent

List a professional Indiana real estate agent to list your home. Finding a listing agent can minimize your stress and maximize your profit. You can interview a listing agent and ask about their experiences around your location. You can determine if the agent is the right fit by asking them some questions, such as how much experience do they have, percentage of listing they can sell, and the plans on how to market your home.

They can guide you through the process and manage selling tasks, like social media expertise, marketing, pre-listing, and negotiating that can help you sell your house. A good real estate agent can give you advice on how you can aesthetically get your home ready for the market. 

Make Minor Repairs, Declutter, and Stage

First impressions are everything. Your home must be properly staged when people have walked through. You want your home to be clean for potential buyers. Give your house a thorough cleaning, especially odors and stains. You don’t want any weird odor or stain to hinder you from having potential buyers.  

You can also hire a professional cleaner to clean. It's relatively inexpensive and will consult you on the best way to lay out your space. This may be the easiest way, plus you won’t stress yourself from doing the physical labor. 

• Deep clean – Doing a deep clean in your home can impress buyers. Invest in making your home clean before listing it. You can focus on areas that are most dirty like the kitchen and bathrooms. Make sure that floors, ceilings, carpets, and rugs are also clean and polished. Don’t forget your windows, too. 

• Repairs – Check and be sure that everything is working properly. If not, you can hire a handyman to do repairs, such as locks and hardware. You also need to check if there are faucets, toilets, walls, or appliances that need to be fixed before you list your home. You don’t want buyers to think that you haven’t taken care of your home properly. It may turn them off and lose your potential buyer. 

• Decluttering – A clutter-free space will go a long way in appealing to a potential buyer. They can focus more on the house if there are no excess belongings. Remember, a few items in the house will make the space look bigger and buyers can focus on the actual home. 

Potential buyers want to imagine and envision themselves in the home. Remove all personalized decor and family photos to create a space that will look like a new home to help them imagine the house as their own. Once you have everything removed, decluttered, and depersonalized, you can ready your home to stage and have the perfect shot. 

• Re-painting of walls – Time for some repaint! Paint your house with neutral colors or aesthetic colors such as white, light gray, and light beige. These shades will make your home clean, big, and brighter. Paint can also cover your wall's imperfections and will have a good look on potential buyers. 
• Get a home inspection

Getting a pre-sale home inspection is one of the investments you can make to have your home ready for buyers. They will want to know if anything has been fixed or needs fixing. 

Buyers will have an idea and help alleviate any concerns. Any issues that the home inspector found can be addressed before putting it on the market. This can also make you at peace as you don’t need to worry if you run into any nasty surprises while in the middle of selling your home. 

• Stage Your Home

Of course, when you look for a house, imagine yourself in it. It helps when you see everything fully furnished. Same when you want to sell your house, staging your home can help in selling your house faster and get you more money. 

The good news is that decorating your home’s interior can be easy and affordable. A home with furniture is easier to imagine than a blank slate. Making your home’s curb appeal from the living room to the dining and every room in the house.  

Start on the outside of the home as buyers will have a first look at it before they enter your house. Make sure that the grass is cut and well maintained and everything has been removed (e.g., children's toys and playhouse). You can also apply a new set of paint on your exterior walls if needed.  

Make Your Home Photo Ready

When you decide to sell your house, you include photos to attract buyers to look for it personally. Uploading a high-quality photo can be a key to getting their attention, especially if the home is already staged and ready for photos. 

You can do it yourself if you want to, with the right angle and lighting you can make a perfect shot for your home. 

You can also hire a professional to take a photo of your home since they are more skilled in taking better shots they can make your home look good as it is personally. 

The best time to sell a house is considered to be the month of May – homes tend to sell faster during this month. Still, it will depend on you on what’s the best time for it to sell and may consider different factors. If you’ve decided to sell your home, start preparing it right away. Make a list, set an estimated timeline, complete any necessary improvements, and get your home ready to sell.