
Whether you’re new to the selling process or your home is already listed on the market, it’s never too late to prepare and showcase your home properly for sale. When buyers feel at home, they’re more comfortable and can relate to the space, which ultimately gets them to make an offer. Make no mistake, the home sale preparation is more than just cleaning and decluttering.
So if you’re looking for results that end in the sale of your home, come discover how these three keys working together can benefit your bottom line—and ultimately put a “sold” sign on your property.

#1 Key to Selling a Home: Price
Now, many times sellers can get in their own way when it comes to the asking price, so leave emotion out of your price, just because you value something in your home it doesn’t mean others will or it’s market-worthy. Avoiding pricing to high because you’ll linger on the market longer or too low to unload the house; that will hurt your bottom line. Do the research look at other homes on the market in your neighborhood, get an appraisal and ask your local professional before putting a price tag on it.
#2 Key to Selling a Home: Home Staging
Do as much as you can ahead of time to get your home prepared for sale. It’s just like when you’re going to sell a car. The car needs to be detailed, the exterior washed, and that it’s not cluttered with your stuff. Well, the same goes when you are selling a home. The house should always be white-glove clean, organized, showing off it’s valuable features and maximizing on the home’s square footage. Think of it this way if you don’t need a item while on the market, pack it away to save you time when it comes time to move, but more importantly you’re visibly showing buyers more space in the home, which that’s what they’re buying right? Square footage.
Consider looking to the images of those neighboring homes on the market, what do they look like? See how you can mimic homes that were “just sold” and stand out amongst your current competition. Maybe you need to paint, fix some minor repairs whatever it is add value and show buyers the lifestyle they could lead if they lived in the home.
When you stage your home first you spend 90% less time on the market, according to the Real Estate Staging Association. That’s why staging a home is so important because you want to get on and off the market quickly to avoid dealing with headaches and hassles of maintaining a show-ready home daily.
#3 Key to Selling a Home: Marketing
Do you have a great marketing plan? This goes whether you are working with an agent or not. It’s important to get the word out! Make sure the listing is all over social,local newspapers or magazines, hold open houses or host an event in your home for buyers, word of mouth, researching where your buyers are, etc… How’s the home going to be marketed and how will you measure the success of this plan? Remember if something isn’t working, you need to adjust the plan and quickly to avoid missed opportunities. Photos are extremely important in the marketing process, hire a professional or grab our photo tips checklist. More than 90% of home buyers start their search online and what are they looking at? Photos.
Usually, after a month on the market with no buyer interest, it’s time for the first price reduction. The average price reduction is $10,000 that’s a big chunk of change. Now, while I leave the price and marketing up to the agent, I can help stage your home and it doesn’t cost anywhere near a price reduction, in fact it could raise the value of your home. The Stage to Sell Strategy is the World’s first online home staging video course for home sellers to help them prepare their own homes for sale. If you’re a seller looking for help or an agent interested in using this powerful listing tool to get a home prepared for sale and conquer the second key then you MUST check out our online course.
Happy Selling,
What key are you or your client’s having most trouble with when selling? Let’s discuss in the comments.
Hi Tori,
I just ordered your book on Amazon! I can’t wait until I get it. It is amazing, but yours is apparently one of the few actual REAL books on home staging published recently! At first it looked like there were lots of home staging books, but upon closer inspection, I realized that most of them were small e-books that were really more like booklets in size! Many of them weren’t even written by stagers, but by writers (hoping to pick up some spare cash by copying down basic information about home staging that anyone can easily find on the internet, I imagine!)
Thanks for your great free videos and posts!
thanks for grabbing the book Phyllis! Are you trying to stage your own home? Let me know how else I can help!
We have a free 30-day home challenge too!http://30dayhomestagingchallenge.com Keep me posted.
Hey Tori, I am an appraiser and appreciate the fact that you suggest getting an appraisal. Good agents are able to provide an accurate value to sell the home but sometimes the owner doesn’t want to hear it. An appraisal can provide support for a competitive price that the agent comes up. There are also some instances when the agent is just not sure about an area or can’t find comps and getting an appraisal can help with setting the price.
yes, I find that an appraisal and a pre-inspection are very important before selling, this way you know exactly what you’re dealing with.