7 Ways to Prepare Your House to Sell in the Summer
Ways to Prepare Your House to Sell in the Summer
How do I get my house ready to sell in the summer? Here are seven easy ways to prepare your house to sell in the summer.
Chapters
1. Address Necessary Repairs and Deferred Maintenance
Homeownership often presents many minor issues that can easily be put on the back burner. If you're considering selling your home this summer, you can start by tackling some of the repairs you've been waiting on.
Most homebuyers are looking for a well-maintained and cared-for home. When listing your home for sale, you should list simple repairs.
Repairs could include patching any holes in the walls and applying a fresh coat of paint on the walls and trim, fixing any broken windows or doors, ensuring all electrical outlets are working correctly, replacing any bulbs that are burnt out, tightening any loose toilets or plumbing fixtures, replacing the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, replacing your air filters and getting your HVAC system cleaned and serviced by your local HVAC company.
Whichever items you have determined need attention, it is always best to make a checklist and work through them. For many sellers preparing to sell during the hot summer months, you will want to be sure that your home is fully operational and that all major systems are working correctly, leaving your future buyers much less hesitant when contemplating an offer.
Home inspections are common for buyers to opt into. So, before you even consider selling your home this summer, we highly recommend that you make a list of all of those repairs; when inspection reports come in, you will appreciate the shorter list of potential repairs that could show up on that report and so will your future buyers.
2. Depersonalize and Declutter Your Home
We all love the things that make our house a home, but when listing your home, remember you are trying to show off the house rather than your style. This is not a time to showcase family photos and memorabilia. It's best to take this time to start carefully removing any items that could show your potential buyers anything too personal. Pack away any family photos and store them for your next home.
Next up is reduction. You will want to reduce the number of items in your house. Keep your closets neat and organized, and leave about 50% of the space empty. You want to give your buyers the illusion that there is more than enough space for their things. Start a donation pile and remove the items you know won't be coming to your new home.
Only keep out decor items that blend into the space. You will want items that accentuate the space and show purpose. For example, you may put a few wine glasses out in the wet bar or place a fresh set of white towels on the towel rack.
Throw it out, donate, or store your items when in doubt. Once the decluttering is complete, consider adding indoor plants throughout the home during these summer months. This is the perfect time to show off the natural sunlight feeding some fresh plants in your home, and this will also have a dual purpose and add to your staging decor as you prepare to sell your home this summer.
3. Prepare the Exterior of the Home
The outdoor space is one of the most important places to focus on during summer when preparing to sell your home. Summertime is when we want to utilize our outdoor space the most, which means buyers will pay attention to the home's exterior.
Starting with repairs and working your way through basic landscaping will prove to make a world of difference. A lot of the spring cleanup will serve well when listing your home for sale during the summer months. So, as you work through the summer months, start making any necessary repairs.
You may need to replace some siding or even spend some time power-washing the back deck. It could be an excellent time to repair any wood rot. Clean your gutters! Powerwash the driveway and patio. Spend time removing dead plants and replacing them with something hearty that survives well in the summer heat.
4. Highlight the Outdoor Living Space
Once you've completed exterior cleanup and repairs, you can focus on making your home's outdoor space a highlight. In the summer, your outdoor space could be as crucial to a buyer as the indoor space. The unique timing of a summer market is that this is the one time of year when people use their outdoor space as an alternate living space.
Some easy ways to spruce up your outdoor space could be adding fresh mulch to your flower beds. Go to your local nursery, ask which plants do best in the summer months in shaded areas and areas with full sun, and start planting. Remember, you want this space to look fresh and healthy, and plants are a quick and easy way to bring the space to life.
If you have seating in your outdoor living space, try swapping out your outdoor cushions and pillows with something summery, with fun summer colors and prints. You could even grab an excellent outdoor rug to coordinate with your new pillows to pull the space together. This will give your buyers the illusion that this is a usable space and a space they already feel drawn to as a cozy gathering space during the summer season.
5. Keep the Interior of your Home Cool
The air temperature is part of a comfortable home in the hot summer. We don't recommend having your air conditioning set to arctic temperatures, but we recommend some easy tricks to keep it comfortable and cool while your home is active on the market.
This will be when buyers come in for showings, or you might even have some open houses scheduled with your real estate agent. What can you do to help battle the high temperatures that summer days will inevitably bring? Use these helpful tips to ensure your home feels relaxed and comfortable when potential buyers come in to tour your home.
Please keep the blinds and window coverings closed until right before showings begin. Blocking the sunlight from coming in through the windows will help from that hot summer sun to allow the temperatures to rise.
Keep overhead lights off. It may seem silly, but many of our light fixtures give off heat, so reduce your electric bill by keeping as many lights off as possible.
Keep a consistent and comfortable temperature on your thermostat. We recommend setting and holding a consistent temperature between 68 and 72 degrees inside during the summer months. If you take all of the previous steps mentioned above, maintaining a consistent temperature will be much easier.
Remember that listing your home for sale during the summer also means that when your potential buyers view it, you want them to be comfortable and stay a while. We want them to be able to envision themselves in the space. Nothing is worse than being in a stuffy and too hot home or too cold and uncomfortable. As the seller, you could run the risk that they will walk in and be too uncomfortable and choose not to tour your home. Or even worse, they will suspect there is a problem with your HVAC system and decide not to offer on your house which they otherwise would have offered on.
Be sure to allow yourself enough time to open all the blinds and window coverings right before you head out of your house and let in as much natural light as possible. Turn on lights only in the darker parts of the home, and make sure your temperature is set between 68 and 72.
6. Stage and Choose Decor to Reflect the Summer Season
When you think of summer, think of ways you can brighten your space to match the carefree mood and keep it clean. Coastal muted tones are highly recommended when staging your home. These colors may include pale hues of blues, greens, and soft whites. They will show well in photos paired with soothing paint colors on your walls.
A clean, bright, and fresh space will evoke an emotion from your potential buyers similar to how you feel when you're on vacation. If home decor is not your strong suit, hire a professional staging company to help guide your choices. Many times, staging companies will charge a small fee and may even bring some of their inventory of home decor that will fit nicely into what you already have.
Whether you hire a professional or go it alone, adding some new items to your space will often give it the breath of fresh air it may have been missing all along.
Summer indoor plants, even artificial plants, will always brighten a space and add a natural element to your space. Plants will add pops of color in ways that traditional home decor cannot accomplish.
Swap out your throw pillows and replace them with something that accents the cheerfulness of summer. Adding a seasonal kitchen dish towel to the kitchen space or a bowl of fresh lemons on the kitchen island will bring the space together and create cohesiveness, bringing the feel of summer into your space without trying very hard.
Go through each room and space of your home, decide which areas will need a splash of summer, and start highlighting those spaces.
7. Hire a Top Real Estate Professional
This may be the most important bullet point on our list. When you're thinking about selling your home this summer, it is imperative to understand the importance of hiring a listing agent to market your home. While marketing your home is one of the things that your listing agent will do for you, there are so many other valuable reasons why you should always hire a listing agent to sell your home.
For-sale-by-owner is an option, but just because it's an option doesn't necessarily mean it's a good option. According to the NAR—National Association of Realtors—7% of home sales in 2023 were FSBO sales. The typical FSBO sold for $310,000 compared to $405,000 for agent-assisted home sales.
During the home-selling process of an FSBO, 43% of buyers reported distrusting the seller for not having an agent. In turn, 40% of FSBO sellers reported needing help understanding contract language, and 36% reported making legal mistakes because they didn't hire an agent.
What are the consequences of not hiring an agent? Some consequences could hurt you financially as the seller. You could end up with a lower sales price. Statistically, we have already mentioned that the average sales price on a home dramatically decreases when you choose to sell your home without an agent.
Additionally, not having a clear understanding of the process could lead to delays in closing, leaving you, as the seller, responsible for the financial burdens of your home for much longer than you had anticipated.
Most sellers reported that selling their homes independently was much more stressful than they had initially prepared for.
Your listing agent will quickly prove to be worth every penny, ensuring you top dollar on the sale of your home. Through thoughtful and experienced analysis, your agent will price your home strategically to sell and appeal to the broadest buyers based on the size, location, and square footage your home offers.
Also, they will advocate for your best interest and your best interest alone. Professional real estate agents like the agent on our team at Raleigh Realty will provide a bridge between you as the seller and your potential buyer and buyers agent.
Once you select your agent, they will negotiate for you to allow a seamless transaction. Your agent works around the contracts, is familiar with all the legal documents involved, and will help walk you through what it all means. They will work with the closing attorney to ensure all accounting has been done correctly and handled with care.
Methodology
We used data and information from the following sources to determine the best ways to prepare your home to sell in the summer.
National Association of Realtors
FAQs
Is it better to sell in June or July?
Both months are optimal months to sell your home; however, June is the best month to sell your home nationwide.
How do I get my house ready for summer?
Clean and pressure wash your walkways and driveway, spruce up the flower beds, powerwash your siding, and clean the gutters.
How should I prepare my house for sale?
Start by decluttering and packing away anything that you aren't using. Make any necessary repairs and repaint any areas that need a fresh coat of paint.
How can I make my house more appealing when selling?
Keep your space neutral. Remove any personal items or memorabilia and choose neutral paint colors and furnishings.
Final Thoughts - Ways to Prepare Your House to Sell in the Summer
Selling your home during the summer months may be one of the best times to market it to get the most equity. The summer season allows the opportunity to highlight both the interior and exterior spaces and maximize your potential profit.
Please contact our agents here at Raleigh Realty to schedule a consultation as you prepare your home for sale. We are happy to help in any way we can.
Ryan Fitzgerald
Hi there! Nice to 'meet' you and thanks for visiting our Raleigh Real Estate Blog! My name is Ryan Fitzgerald, and I'm a REALTOR® in Raleigh-Durham, NC, the owner of Raleigh Realty. I work alongside some of the best Realtors in Raleigh. You can find more of my real estate content on Forbes, Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and more. Realtor Magazine named me a top 30 under 30 Realtor in the country (it was a long time ago haha). Any way, that's enough about me. I'd love to learn more about you if you'd like to connect with me on Facebook and Instagram or connect with our team at Raleigh Realty. Looking forward to connecting!
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