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5 Tips for Selling your Home in the DC Metro Area

House for Sale

Real estate in the DC area has been one of the top performers in the country since the 2008 housing crisis. Home prices in DC are near a record high, but those prices are expected to drop in the next year. If you’re contemplating whether you should sell your house, consider selling now to capitalize on the home equity you’ve earned over time. When you’re ready, here are five hot tips that will help you sell your house in DC:

1. Pack your possessions

You’ll first need to pack up most of your personal items you want to keep and move them to storage or your new house. Here are a few hints to help you along:

  • For anything you’re getting rid of you’ll need to decide whether you want to donate it, sell it, or trash it.
  • For organization, make separate piles in different areas of the house.
  • Don’t underestimate the value of professional help! MarketPro Homebuyers happily helps all of its customers move with the support of careful, skilled, and experienced packing, shipping, moving, and storage professionals.

There are very organized ways to move that don’t involve tossing your personal items one at a time into your mini-van. But whatever you may decide, be sure to allocate enough time for this task because it can be more complicated and time consuming than expected.

2. Clean

While cleaning may not be exciting, it is one of the most important things you can do to get your house ready to sell. A clean house makes buyers feel like they could move in right away. Be sure to do your deep cleaning after you’ve moved most of your possessions. In addition to regular cleaning of counters, bathrooms, floors, etc, clean doors, walls, and cupboards that are often touched, you should also consider going the extra mile, like by shampooing carpets or treating hardwood or tile floors. Extra effort here doesn’t need to be expensive, but it can go a long way toward selling your house.

3. Make repairs

Don’t feel like your house needs to be in perfect shape before you sell it. Some wear and tear is common. And DC’s real estate market is strong enough that you should be able to sell it as-is. But to increase its value and make buyers more interested, try to fix or replace as many minor things as you can. A broken drawer, missing screen on a window, or a leaky faucet are all inexpensive worthwhile fixes. Additionally, touch up and re-painting can go a long way toward increasing its overall appeal for buyers looking for something “move-in ready”.

Some problems, like a worn-out roof or unstable foundation may cause your house to fail an inspection limiting bank loans and restricting the sale to those who don’t need traditional loans. If you’re unsure, you can consider a prelisting home inspection so you’re clear on where you stand.

If you need costly repairs, some realty companies, like MarketPro Homebuyers, will buy your house with a fair cash offer. This is a good option if you want a faster sale and you won’t need to pay closing costs, realtor fees, or repair expenses – in fact, you can skip the headache of most of the traditional real estate selling process entirely!

4. Decide How to Sell Your Home

If you decide to sell your home with a realtor, be sure to choose the right person for the job. Your agent has a lot of responsibility for you, and thus you’ll need to work closely with them. Choose someone you’re comfortable communicating with and who has good attention to details. If you decide to work with a realtor, make sure they do proper research and legwork to do things like:

  • Set the asking price,
  • Advertise and market,
  • Communicate with buyers’ agents,
  • Post photos and information about your home on social media,
  • Stage the house,
  • Review offers,
  • and more.

If that sounds like too much, you can also choose to work with a company like MarketPro Homebuyers who purchase houses for cash without any of the sales process. Your realtor will essentially represent your interests during the home sale, and the best ones will take care of most of the stressful, challenging parts for you.

5. Advertise and market

Put your best foot forward! Make sure your house has good “curb appeal” and “web appeal.” That is the first thing a buyer sees when they step out of their car or click on your online listing. Clean up your landscaping, sweep your driveway, and touch up the front paint. Inside, after you’re done cleaning and decluttering be sure to stage your house in an inviting and neat way. Take high quality photos when they post them online. Also, consider writing an appealing advertising blurb about your home detailing the house’s location benefits and some of your favourite aspects inside.

Selling a house is one of the biggest financial decisions most people make. Luckily this may be one of the prime times to sell a house in the DC metro area. These five tips will help you sell your house, and hopefully maximize the equity you’ve earned over the years.

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