10 Ways To Sell Your Home Faster

Marketing a home for sale starts with preparation

• Complete necessary home improvements: Take a walk through your house as if you were a buyer. Notice whether any updates need to be made to make the home appealing to a broad range of buyers. Consider the home updates that will get you the most bang for your buck, but be careful not to over-improve or pick finishes that only appeal to a very specific type of buyer.
• Declutter the space: In addition to giving your house a good cleaning and putting everything back where it belongs, the best places to focus your decluttering efforts are closets and storage areas. Consider half-emptying closets, pantries, and other storage spaces to give the impression that the home has ample storage.
• Depersonalize: Remove family photos and keepsakes. Also, take care to remove any evidence of your pets. These simple steps can help buyers visualize what it would be like for their family to call your property home.
• Stage your home: After you’ve decluttered and depersonalized, it’s easier to stage your home. Whether you’re simply moving furniture around to make rooms feel more spacious or hiring a full-on professional stager, making the effort to help your home’s interior shine can make a big difference.
• Improve curb appeal: How your home looks when potential buyers first pull up is extremely important. Mow the lawn, pull weeds, clean walkways, and generally spruce up your home’s exterior — it’s where you’ll make your first impression.

Listing your home online 101

• Hire a professional photographer: Show off your home’s best features with professional real estate photography — it’s worth the money and will help you compete with other local listings. And load up on the pictures. According to Zillow research, a home with fewer than nine photos is about 20 percent less likely to sell in 60 days than a home with 22 to 27 photos.
• Create a video walkthrough: It’s easier than ever to create a professional-quality interactive home tour. Check out Zillow’s 3D Home tool, which can create a 3D tour of your listing using just an iPhone.
• Price your home to motivate buyers: Pricing a home correctly is both an art and a science, and finding that perfect price — one that will both sell quickly and put enough money in your pocket — is something that an expert local real estate agent can give you guidance on.
• List through online portals: It’s important to get your home listed in as many places as possible, ensuring that a wide range of buyers see it. Your agent can get your home listed on the local MLS, and if you’re selling on your own, it’s easy to post your home on Zillow.
• Write an appealing listing description: In addition to great photos, a listing description that highlights the home features buyers love can give you a big boost. Ask your real estate agent for the most popular keywords in your area. Nationally, some of the most popular listing terms include steam showers, professional appliances, and heated floors.

Traditional real estate marketing techniques

• Post promotional signage: Take cues from the pros in terms of how to advertise your home for sale. Post yard signs, print flyers to hand out at open houses, and send mailers around the neighborhood. If you’re working with an agent, they’ll take care of these items for you, but if you’re going the FSBO route, you’ll want to take these tasks on.
• Host an agent-only tour: A popular marketing strategy of savvy real estate agents, an agent-only tour involves your agent (or you!) showing off the listing to a group of local buyers agents, in hopes that they have the perfect client for your listing. After all, 74 percent of buyers said they relied on their real estate agent or broker to bring them listings.
• Host an open house: Even with all the online tools at their disposal, today’s buyers still want to see your home in person. The average buyer takes four private tours of homes and attends two open houses, so why not make one of them yours?

Selling your home online in the digital age

• Create a property website: A website dedicated to your listing, and your listing alone, can be a strong marketing tool. Make sure to include an image gallery and some kind of video — either a 3D tour or a drone video. Then, get the word out! Share the link with friends and family members and ask them to forward it.
• Promote on social media: Your social networks are a great place to get the word out. Post a link to your listing, include pictures and videos, and ask people to share. If you’re listing your home on your own, you might even consider some paid placements that target potential buyers in your neighborhood.    
• Send out an email: Cast a wide net by sending out a link to your listing to friends and family members via email. You never know—someone you already know might have someone in their social circles that’s the perfect buyer.
• Advertise in online classified ads: The more places you can advertise, the better, so consider spending a little time, and perhaps a small amount of money, to list your home on other online sites like Craigslist, eBay or sites specifically geared toward for sale by owner listings, if that’s the direction you’re taking.