Disconnect your emotions
When conversing with real estate agents, you will often find
that when they talk to you about buying real estate, they will refer
to your purchase as a "home." Yet if you are selling property, they
will often refer to it as a "house." There is a reason for this.
Buying real estate is often an emotional decision, but when selling
real estate you need to remove emotion from the equation.
You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity. Property.
Real estate. Your goal is to get others to see it as their potential
home, not yours. If you do not consciously make this decision, you
can inadvertently create a situation where it takes longer to sell
your property.
The first step in getting your home ready to sell is to
"de-personalize" it.Make your home
anonymous
If there is a new home sales tract near your home, go visit. It
doesn't matter what size the homes are. What you will find are some
wonderfully (but sparsely) furnished homes that anyone could live in
-- with the emphasis on "anyone." They are anonymous. There may be a
baseball glove in the boy's room, but no family photos on the walls.
There may be "personality" - but no person.
The reason you want to make your home "anonymous" is because you
want buyers to view it as their potential home. When a potential
homebuyer sees your family photos hanging on the wall, it puts your
own brand on the home and momentarily shatters their illusions about
living in the house themselves.
Put away family photos, sports trophies, collectible items,
knick-knacks, and souvenirs. Put them in a box. Rent a storage area
for a few months and put the box in the storage unit.
Do not just put the box in the attic, basement, garage or a closet.
Part of preparing a house for sale is to remove "clutter," and that
is the next step in preparing your house for sale.
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