The price of newly listed homes has ( Tips for Selling in a Hot Housing Market ) risen 13.5% since March 2021 and 26.5% compared to March 2020. Despite the price increase and rising inflation, homebuying power actually increased by 21%. This all sounds good for real estate agents and sellers, but it also means extensive competition. To beat their competition, sellers are coming up with new and innovative ways to make their properties stand out and ensure they sell quickly.
However, just because the hot housing market is currently favoring sellers doesn’t mean your house will always sell above the asking price. You might not even be able to sell your house as quickly as you might think. Proper preparation and a strategic approach are required to ensure you remain competitive in a hot housing market.
This article will discuss tips for selling in a hot housing market; let’s get started!
1. Prepare Your Home Before Hitting The Market
According to this Seattle property management company, you are responsible for ensuring your house is in top condition. As such, you should be aware of any cosmetic flaws or serious fixes required. Thus, pre-inspection before listing the house is recommended in a hot housing market. It eliminates the element of surprise and prevents buyers from further reducing and adjusting the price if they find a flaw on their own. Being prepared and upfront will build trust and authority and ensure your house sells quicker.
Remember, you don’t necessarily have to fix the flaw if they’re not a deal-breaker; however, being upfront with your clients will help you create a better relationship with them and might stop them from negotiating too much.
2. Declutter And Depersonalize
Another important thing real estate agents need to do before listing their house is to declutter and depersonalize the home. An important part of decluttering involves staging the home, which we will discuss later. For now, hire a professional to sort out all the furniture and items you want to keep and sell. Ensure your rooms are not cluttered and that potential buyers can quickly analyze the dimensions and qualities of the rooms.
Moreover, once that’s done, it’s time to depersonalize. You might be obsessed with the lime green color on your walls, but not everyone will love this color like you do. Similarly, remove any quotes, personal photo frames, or political affiliations around the house. Buyers should be able to picture themselves living in the house.
3. Get Your Paperwork In Order
Getting your paperwork and documents in order is a top priority – in fact, it is one of the most popular tips for selling in a hot housing market. As mentioned earlier, houses sell faster in a hot market. Thus, you need to have all documents and paperwork on hand. The more prepared you are, the more confident a buyer feels when choosing to work with you.
Similarly, sellers are recommended to have disclosure documents, utility bills, and tax payments prepared before the house goes on the market.
4. Limit Showings
Another strategic approach sellers can take is to limit their showings. Are you familiar with the concept of wanting what you can’t have? This concept can be applied to any industry, including the housing market. Thus, sellers can limit showings by restricting the hours and days. Don’t offer showings throughout the day; it is more work and devalues your property.
Moreover, by applying such limits, you force multiple potential buyers to view the property together, thus sparking a bit of competition and ensuring your house sells faster.
5. Make Strategic Home Improvements
Before selling your house, you need to spend money on repairs and renovations. Although you have a higher chance of selling your house “as-is” in a hot housing market, it is still better to make strategic home improvements.
For instance, spending money on big renovations and remodeling is a big gamble. While you might like a modern kitchen with white-marbled tiles, it is not everyone’s cup of tea. Thus, instead of tackling big remodeling projects, make subtle changes and increase the value of your home.
According to Remodeling Magazine’s annual Cost vs. Value report, which analyzes the ROI on various home remodeling projects, exterior improvements gain a larger ROI than internal improvements. According to the data collected, improvements like replacing garage doors, deck additions, roofing repairs, and replacements are all beneficial.
The reason exterior projects gather more return on investment and faster sales is because the real estate community’s valuations focus on curb appeal and first impressions to persuade potential buyers to strike a deal. Thus, by adding a new coat of paint or fixing your lawn, you can increase curb appeal and your chances of a sale.
6. Review Purchase Offers
Timing plays a crucial role in selling your house. For instance, when listing your home on the market, ensure you are available to review all purchase offers and communicate timely. Failure to communicate properly might lead to potential buyers losing interest. Thus, it is recommended to set a time and date for all offers to be reviewed so you know when to free up time.
It is best to reply to all offers within 24 hours and notify buyers whose offers you are not considering, so they can continue their search. Similarly, prepare your counteroffer, and don’t wait for the perfect purchase offer. If the perfect purchase offer comes knocking, beware of it and ensure the buyer is solid enough to uphold all contractual details moving on.
7. Price Appropriately
Pricing appropriately is one of the most effective tips for selling in a hot housing market. There are 3 ways you can price a house – below market value, at market value, and above market value. This concludes that market research is essential before listing your house.
You can look at comparable properties and see what prices they are being sold at. Moreover, you can also analyze the neighborhood and determine the price of each house..
If you set the price below the market value, you increase the chances of selling faster as you get more buyers, and if you are in a tight spot, such as if you’re relocating, this can be the best option for you.
If you set the price above the market value, the number of buyers decreases, but if you are not in a rush, you can sell the house with increased profit.
Conclusion
The housing market is hot now, but that won’t be the case forever. Thus, sellers must be prepared and develop strategies to keep their business afloat and profit even when the market goes down.
This involves maintaining curb appeal, staging for success, and pricing appropriately, among other things. We hope this article helped!