Has the time come where you’ve finally decided to sell your house? It can be great to have reached that decision and it can be a big milestone in your life as you prepare to move on to pastures new.

But there is still lots of planning that you need to go through to ensure that selling your old home goes smoothly. You want to make sure you get the best deal you can in a short time frame.

Here’s everything you need to know about selling your old home.

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  1. Set a Best-Case Sale Price and Worst-Case Price

It’s good to have a maximum and a minimum price when it comes to selling your home. Most people set a worst-case scenario, a price that they are prepared to go to for a quick sell if the house has been on the market for too long. 

However, just having this price in your mind can negatively affect your bargaining position. You might move to this price quicker if it’s the only price you have written down. Instead, be sure to have a top price written down as well.

You should start at this price and aim to persuade people why they should pay this even if other houses are going for less. Write a list of the features this house has going for it that other houses don’t. Try to stick to your guns, if this is possible.

  1. Set a Timeline

Although it’s good to be optimistic about a top price, you also need to set a sliding timeline as to when you are going to reach your bottom price. This is so that you sell your house in the timeframe that you want to. You could also start selling before you start buying.

If you fail to do this you could end up still paying the mortgage on your old house whilst you have moved into your new house. This might not be a viable option.

Set a realistic timeline based on when you would like to have sold your house by and stick to this unless you get a sudden interest at a higher price at the last moment. Speak to real estate agents and other experts to help you decide on the timeline.

Remember, the home selling process can be stressful because of the sheer amount of money that you could lose if you don’t sell your house on time so it’s important to stay calm at all times.

  1. Inspect Before Renovating

The value of your home will be decided by independent inspectors who will give you a retail value. They will base their inspection on many factors and you can increase the value of your house by making additions to your house and renovations.

Before you do these it’s a good idea to have some idea of what types of renovations add the most value so that you are not wasting your money.

You might have a downstairs bathroom but are considering knocking it through to make the kitchen wider and more inviting. You would want to rethink this if having a downstairs bathroom adds value to your house.

Have an honest conversation with an inspector before you spend any money on renovating your house.

  1. Decide on Some Renovations

Every house could do with some improvement to make it more appealing to a potential buyer. There are some specific renovations you can consider if you are selling up just before you retire.  To key is to decide how much money you should invest and whether it will be worth it in terms of the return you will get.

If you spend $3,000 on renovating the lounge and this increases the value of the house from $150,000 to $160,000 then you’ve effectively made a $7,000 profit. If, however, you renovate the lounge and this increases the value of the house to $152,000 you’ve made a loss.

For the renovations be sure to hire reputable builders who will do a good job in a good time frame. Fixing the work of cowboy builders can add weeks and months to the timeframe and can lead to added stress and costs that you don’t need.

Go by word-of-mouth and reputation by asking friends and family rather than just using Google or Facebook.

Remember not just to think about your own tastes. You need to think about what is going to appeal to the type of buyer you are trying to attract. This is a great home improvement tip.

Selling Your Old Home? Be Sure to Plan in Advance

Selling your old home requires more than just getting up one day, putting it on the market, and deciding to sell.

To get the best deal and avoid a situation where you are paying two mortgages for months-on-end you need to be savvy.

First, decide on an upper value as well as a worst-case scenario for your house. Get a real estate agent to inspect your home and give you an honest verdict. These professionals can always provide you vital information such as the cost to build manufactured home versus the cost of home improvements to help with your project’s financial planning. But also sure to ask them what features could improve the value of your house and attract the kind of buyer you want.

Then decide on some renovation work, if you have the budget for it. You can decide this long in advance before you start the process of looking for a new house so that you are not under pressure to finish the renovations quickly. 

Be sure to hire good builders who won’t rip you of or do a bad job, costing you thousands of dollars more.

If you are interested in reading more about selling your old home and home improvement be sure to check out the rest of our site.