Over the past couple of years, the housing market in the United States has seen prices surge to all time highs due to a combination of historically low mortgage rates and companies allowing employees to work from home. As HomeLight notes in their Top Agent Insights for New Year 2022 report, 94% of top real estate agents feel that they are currently operating in a seller’s market, and 84% expect the market to favor sellers in 2022.
Even with the potential for mortgage interest rate hikes, the fact that employers are allowing staff to work from home will only prolong the surge in the demand for homes. With those points in mind, we’ve put together a few tips to help you get top dollar for your home in today’s tight housing market.
Prepare your home for the sale
When selling your home, you can’t overlook the importance of preparing your home for the sale. While it’s possible to sell your home as-is, a little effort can go a long way in boosting your home’s value. For starters you should declutter your home, room by room. It might not seem like much, but this alone makes your home much more desirable as it becomes easier for buyers to envision what the home can be like after a purchase.
The next preparation step to consider is improving your home’s curb appeal by trimming up foliage, cleaning up debris, mowing your lawn, and adding decorative touches such as a colorful mailbox.
Work with a trusted expert
Since selling a home is like a full-time job, most homeowners work with a real estate agent since they know the ins and outs of their areas and are able to help buyers get tens of thousands of dollars more than if they tried making a sale on their own.
When evaluating agents to work with, it’s important to think about how you want to communicate with your agent. Do you need someone who will immediately respond to your inquiries, or if someone can be more hands off?
During your agent evaluation process, it’s important to conduct background research such as by reading through user reviews to see what people say about the agent’s people skills. In addition to reading reviews, you also should look up agent credentials. This means checking to see if an agent is licensed in your area, and if they have been subject to disciplinary action in the past. Thankfully these details are easy to find on most state licensing websites.