What to Do Before Contacting a Real Estate Agent

Selling a house is a process that involves many steps, but it can be challenging to know what order to tackle them in. It can be especially difficult to figure out when to get in touch with a real estate agent, particularly if you don’t have an existing relationship with one.

There are so many things to be done before your home is listed, from deep cleaning and photographing to packing and repairing. How do you know when you should call your agent?

Contacting your Port Perry real estate agents at the right time is important to streamline the selling process. Your initial talks with the agent will provide concrete information about getting your house ready to sell.

It’s hard to say the exact time you should contact an agent, but there are some things that should be tackled before getting in touch. Read on to learn what tasks to complete before enlisting the help of an agent.

Declutter

Cluttered homes turn off buyers, so decluttering is an essential step. First, by removing belongings that don’t need to be there, it makes your home look neater, cleaner and more spacious. Second, your personal belongings make it difficult for buyers to imagine themselves living in your home.

You should do this before contacting an agent as it will allow you to give them a cleaner slate to work with to better recommend how to stage your home. It also allows you to get rid of belongings that no longer serve a purpose and pack away items for moving early on.

Depending on the size of your home and how much stuff you have, it’s important to remember that decluttering takes more time than most people expect. Give yourself plenty of time to get it done.

Top to Bottom Clean

You’ll be doing a lot of cleaning when selling your home. The big, deep clean will come later, before listing photos are taken, and buyers start coming around. But you want to give your agent an idea of what your home will look like, so doing a bigger clean than usual is recommended.

Make sure to clean light fixtures to amplify light and windows to be sure that as much natural light as possible makes its way into your home, as these are both helpful in staging.

Minor Repairs

If you’re considering major renovations, these should be discussed with your real estate agent in advance. Often, homeowners think they know what needs to be done to increase the appeal and value of their home, but because of the time spent living in the house, they tend to be biased.

Real estate agents not only hear from buyers every day about what they’re looking for, they also have a professional and unbiased eye and will be able to provide advice about what areas of your home you should focus your renovation dollars on to get the most value.

However, before getting in touch with an agent, you should take care of basic repairs and fixes. Things like painting the walls, repairing leaking faucets, swapping outdated light fixtures, replacing worn carpeting, and fixing missing roof shingles should all be taken care of in advance. Implement the items on our list and then contact a real estate agent to get moving on selling your home.