How to Sell Your House Fast

If you're anxious to buy a new home to take advantage of the current deals available on the market, you're probably anxious first to sell your current home. Easier said than done, right?

Actually, it doesn't have to be all that hard or painful. There will be some work involved, but isn't it worth it to end up in a home you really want to live in at a steal of a bargain? You have to get your home sold first to make it happen, so just grin and bear it.

Why should you listen to me? I've done it a few times, once at the top of the California real estate market, and once at what appears to be (at least in the short term) a low in the Idaho real estate market where we currently live. Now we're happily living in the home we intend to retire in. No more moving, ever!

Whether you're selling luxury Marco Island real estate or downtown Minneapolis condos, here's how you can increase the chances of selling your home fast , just like we did.

1. Move 50-60% of your furniture and ALL of your clutter into storage

I know, this is a major pain, but it works. It's equally hard to sell a cluttered home as it is a vacant home. You want to go for the model home appearance, or some reasonable approximation of it. Few, if any, family photos should be on the wall. Generic artwork is best.

The other day my wife and I were choosing paints for the rooms in our new house, and we commented that the promotional photos near the paint displays make every home look good. That's because the consumer thinks they're selling you a paint palate, but in actuality they're selling you a nicely furnished room. It's the same with your home. The buyer often thinks they are objectively looking at the house itself, but too often they are really just seeing a nicely furnished room. Give that to them.

How do you do that with kids? Well, we have seven of them, so if we can do it, you can do it. Keep the house relatively clean and create a chore list so that when there is a showing appointment you can quickly get "all hands on deck" to spruce the place up.

2. Vacate the premises for all showings

I've viewed homes where the seller is present, and it's just not a comfortable environment to soak in the features of the house. It is distracting, and I never remember the details of the house when that happens. Face it–you are a distraction to potential buyers, and if you want to get an offer on your home FAST, you need to get rid of all distractions, including YOU. Period, no exceptions.

3. Use a full service real estate agent, not a discount broker

I'm not saying this because I like paying 6%. Nor am I saying it because 3500 Realtors read my real estate marketing tips newsletter. I'm saying this because a good agent really is worth 6%. It's the cost of doing business. The bottom line is that you need to have an agent who has some skin in the game to get the deal closed.

The house my wife and I bought was a short sale, and the loss mitigation specialist (a.k.a. the short sale negotiator for the bank) for short sales is always paid by the hour. As a result, they have no skin in the game--that stand to gain nothing if the deal goes through, and they stand to lose nothing if the deal falls apart. There are plenty of things than can (and will) go sideways in a real estate transaction, and you need to have an agent there to go the distance, because that's how they get paid.

4. Don't try to get all your money out that you put into it

Anyone with an emotional attachment to the money they put into the house will not be likely to get their house sold in a down market. Why? Because unless you've owned your home for 30 years and have tons of equity, you are probably going to lose money on the sale. You have to realize that you stand to gain more on the purchase of your next home at these inexpensive prices than you will save by waiting to "recoup" your investment. It will never happen.

5. Price your home under the competition

A corollary of the above advice is that you don't want to price you home at or above the market in a declining market. I realize that everyone is "hoping" a bottom is in place, but hope doesn't sell a house. Price does.

One house in the neighborhood we just moved from had been on the market for the entire five years we lived there. I never saw inside the house to know how it was kept, but they tried using a discount broker and consistently asked at least $15,000 over what the market would currently bear. They followed the market down for five years, losing at least $90,000 in the process–about 40% of its peak value.

That's a big hit. Don't make that mistake. Price your home right.

6. Be willing to reduce your price if your original expectations are too high

When we listed our home, we found a comparable home that was almost equivalent to ours and priced it just under that. Two weeks later we checked the prices of every home in the neighborhood and found out that we were still over priced by a whopping $10,000. That's a lot of money, but if we hand't reduced our price, we'd still be there today. Instead, we are in the home of our dreams.

You can do the same. It gets more challenging if you are underwater on your mortgage, but the same principles apply. You can't change the market–it's best to face reality and take what the market gives you. Hopefully, your dream home awaits on the other side!