Thinking About Selling This Summer? Get Ready Now!

If you’re thinking about selling your home this summer, whether you’re in Howard County or Baltimore County, now is the time to start getting ready. Selling is a time-intensive process, and a significant amount of your time may need to go into preparing your house for the market. This guide explains.

Winter isn’t even over yet, but if you’re thinking about selling your house this summer, now’s a great time to start preparing. Most people use this time to:

Make necessary updates
Handle repairs
Declutter and organize
Send excess items to storage
Make a plan

Early Home-Selling Tip #1: Make Necessary Updates

If you know there are some aspects of your home that make it look old or dated, now is the time to start making updates. Some of the things that can date a home include:

Carpet, which you can replace with hardwood floors, laminate or tile
Natural-toned wood cabinetry, which you can refinish or replace to modernize your kitchen
Gold-toned faucets, which you can replace with more modern steel pieces from your favorite home improvement store

Related: What is a FSBO?

Early Home-Selling Tip #2: Handle Repairs

When you sell your home, it’s up to you to tell prospective buyers what’s wrong with it – in fact, you have a legal obligation to do so through disclosures for major issues. If you know your home has some issues, why not address them now? That way, you can sell your home for the best possible price (and you don’t have to worry about what your future buyer’s home inspector will uncover during an inspection).
Pro Tip: When your buyer’s inspector finds issues in your home, the buyer can then use those to negotiate a lower price. However, if you fix all the issues, you stand a better chance of getting your asking price (at fair market value) for the home.

Early Home-Selling Tip #3: Declutter and Organize

The best time to start decluttering your house was yesterday, but today will do if you’re thinking about selling this summer. Go through all the items you’ve built up over the years, and if you find things you haven’t used in the past six months, it’s time to consider donating, selling or throwing it away. Run through this process in every room of your home, and be ruthless; remember, the things you get rid of now won’t have to be packed up and moved when you do sell your house.
Related: How to minimize your risk with FSBO

Early Home-Selling Tip #4: Send Excess Items to Storage

If you have furniture that’s seen better days (but you’re not quite ready to part with it yet), or if your space seems cluttered with furnishings, it’s time to rent a storage unit. You can pull your furniture out of storage when it’s time to move into your new home, but for now, it’s best to clear things out so buyers can focus on your home (rather than all the stuff in it).

Early Home-Selling Tip #5: Make a Plan

Decide now what you’ll do in the following scenarios:

If your home sells before you find a new one
If your home doesn’t sell as quickly as you hoped
If your home takes forever to sell

Only you can answer these questions, but it pays to have a plan in place ahead of time. The last thing you want is to be forced into snap decisions (like staying in a costly hotel) because the real estate market isn’t meeting your needs.
Related: How to set the right listing price for your home

Are You Buying or Selling a Home in Baltimore County or Howard County?

If you’re ready to buy or sell a home in Baltimore County or Howard County, we can help. Check out these listings:

If you’re thinking about selling your home, we can help you sell it quickly – and at the best possible price. You can:

If you have specific questions, fill out the form below or call us at 443-955-1227 – we’re here to help you with any aspect of your real estate transaction.[wpforms id=”220617″]