Are You Ready to Make a Move?
Are you thinking that you may want to sell your home in Westchester County and you’re not sure if you are ready to pack it all up in a truck? Here are some INSIDER TIPS and the six main questions you need to have answered before you make the decision to list your home for sale.
1. What is your home worth and what could you list it for?
To start researching this yourself, you can easily look up your home on a search engine to see the estimated listing price. An important thing to note is what other homes in your area have sold for. These are called the “comps” and will definitely set a precedent for your own listing price. This is question number one because it will give you a baseline for all of the other decisions. Just know that the condition of the homes should be SIMILAR. You must compare apples to apples.
2. How much equity do you have in your home?
Home equity is the amount of your home that you (as opposed to the bank) actually own. You can look at the market value of your home minus the balance of your home loan to calculate your equity. First off, your equity must be positive. Secondly, the equity you have will help you understand how much money you have to put toward moving and a new home.
3. How much will it cost to sell your home?
This is a question many hopeful sellers don’t consider… but it’s important! Many people spend as much as 10% of the sale price on selling their homes. This includes agent commission and additional costs like repair costs, housing overlap costs, closing costs, seller concessions, and more. Knowing how much all this could total out at will help you understand if you have the budget and willingness to list.
4. How long would it take to sell your home?
Similar to sale price, this could be informed by comps. The metric is called “Days on Market” or DOM. DOM will track the average amount of time homes in your area spend on the market. While you can’t nail this down entirely, you should look at when you want to move and how long, realistically, it could take to sell your home. There are numerous documents you’ll need to have in hand before you can list and sell your home. Don’t wait until the last minute to get your ducks in a row. Everything will go faster and smoother if you have everything you need.
5. What needs to be done to your home before you sell it?
You probably already know that things like renovations are lengthy and costly. However, even cosmetic things (like paint or flooring) can take time and money BUT can increase the sale price of your home. This is almost always a worthwhile tradeoff for home sellers, but of course, it also takes time and money. Wrapping your mind around what could be done to enhance the value of your home may impact your timeline and listing date.
6. How are you going to sell your home?
Most people use real estate professionals and some people list a home for sale themselves. Perhaps most importantly is determining the way you’ll present your home to buyers in a virtual context. You’ll need to consider virtual tours, professional photographs, and live-streamed open houses. All of these are becoming increasingly common and may make all of the difference in getting the offer you want.
What to do next...
Feel like you have enough pros to list? If your ducks are in a row and you are ready to get going, I can help! I work with homeowners in Westchester County and the surrounding areas, helping them list and sell their homes. Contact me and we’ll get the ball rolling!
