Being a Home Seller can be nerve-wracking. Even in a hot market, a first time home seller will learn that no house just sells itself friction-free. Sellers who try the For Sale by Owner route rarely make the right choices for themselves when it comes to negotiations and contracts. As a result, they don't get top dollar for their home, and in a hot market that can mean losing thousands of dollars more than they would have paid to have a professional lead the process. 

If you are a first time home seller, we have plenty of guides that go in-depth on specific topics, from staging the home to the appraisal process. We adore a First Time Home Seller (and second and thirds) because it is such a creative and amazing process to get a home ready for the market. To assist the process we have created a quick (and it is long) overview of what you need to know when selling your first home.

Find A Pro to Lead the Process

Even experienced home sellers know that professional agents and brokers can mitigate stress and ensure a more lucrative transaction. First-time home sellers especially need the help, but finding that pro can be intimidating in itself.

Naturally, we’d be happy to be your real estate agents in the Seattle area, but we have some general advice for anyone outside the region. Check online for reviews, get referrals from friends and family, and then ask the right questions when you talk to an agent.

Questions to Ask A Pro Before Selling Your First House

• What is your pricing strategy?
• How do you promote homes on the market through social media, blogs, your website, etc?
• How do your homes sell compared to the city average?
• Do you break down broker commission splits, excise tax, and title and escrow? (In short, what does it cost to sell with this agent?)
• Do you have access to professionals that will help me fix what’s broken in advance of the sale?
• Are they going to be detailed about the true cost to sell your home?

On that note…

Prepping the Home For Market

What you do now will have a lasting impact on what you will get for the home and long term negotiation during the inspection and financing period of the transaction. Do the work and you will benefit. 

Fix What’s Broken

We can’t stress this enough is you are selling your first home: Fix what’s broken BEFORE you list the home. Easily resolved issues can sabotage a sale, even in a hot market! Buyers can walk after the inspection. Banks can decide to not lend the full amount after appraisal. You can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Check out our blog for a ton of detail about how to prepare your home for the market>>. 

An abridged list of potential trouble spots:

• Sewer and drains, from the gutter to the street.
• The roof (moss, needed repairs, etc.)
• Siding and paint damage
• Loose wires or bad wiring
• Low water pressure or leaks
• Working CO2 and smoke detectors on every level (appraisal requirement)
• Rotted wood in decks, steps, or other exterior elements.
• The list goes on…

When home sellers call Team Diva for a pre-listing consultation, we provide our best advice on what needs to be fixed or addressed before listing the home. We then create an actionable schedule for resolving the issues.

Make it Pretty

Unless they inherited the home, first time home sellers were once buyers themselves. Many will remember what it was like to walk into a home and fall in love with it. (Hopefully, that’s the home they got!) Our goal is to create that moment for every buyer that walks into your home. We give attention to every aspect of presentation in preparing a home for sale to ensure that our sellers win in this market. Check out our blog for detail on exactly how to make your home shine above the competition>>. 

A few design pointers for those selling their first home:

• DECLUTTER! Purge and Pack. Closets, counters, whole rooms…everything!
• Put some black mulch and fresh flowers in the front yard for curb appeal and sharp photos.
• Update old fixtures for continuity of design.
• Get fresh towels and an orchid in the bathrooms.
• Minimize artwork to strategic, cohesive pieces
• Clean all of the windows inside and out.
• Clean and/or replace the carpets and refinish hardwoods if possible.

Team Diva is here to help you angle your house for your buyer. None of us were born with a rearrange the furniture in our DNA. Most of us learned from our older gay husbands. Now we can assist you as you go through the process thanks to their watchful and judgy eye.

Keep the House Market Ready Throughout the Listing Time Period

First-time sellers may be shocked at how much buyers and their agents can “leave their mark” on the home just passing through. They might leave doors and windows open. They might get too personal with your things if you are still living there. And, of course, they WILL call you last minute for a showing.

Buyers don’t mean to be this way, but they’re on a mission to find a home that works for them in an incredibly competitive market. The best approach is to be patient, understanding and flexible…and you may need to spend some time each night or day getting your home back to being “show ready.”

A Daily Checklist for Home Sellers Keeping Their House Market Ready

• Hide valuables, expensive toys, prescriptions, credit cards, jewels, etc.
• Try to be out of the house as much as possible or leave for the first week or weekend that it is on the market.
• Keep the lights on and the blinds up.
• Keep the kitchen and bathrooms extra tidy. (No garbage in the bins, no dishes in the sink, clean counters, etc.)
• Vacuum and mop floors.
• Make the beds, fluff the pillows (including the throw pillows), and keep laundry out of sight.
• Market the Home and Find the Right Buyer

If you’ve gotten all this taken care of, you have done your part. Now it’s up to your listing agent to market the heck out of your home. (For a look at our extensive marketing program, check out our page, The Diva Difference.)

Market the Heck Out of the Listing and Closing of the Transaction

Team Diva has an extensive marketing program for all of our homes. We effectively use online marketing tools like social media, blogging, email marketing, and couple it with old school relationships we have with many of the top Seattle real estate brokers. The result of this process is what we call the Diva Difference. What it means for our home sellers is that they consistently get above asking and above the city average for home sales. That is real money in their pockets. And we have the proof to prove it. 

What is the Diva Difference aka Listing Marketing?

The Diva Difference is the work we do to sell our listings. Team Diva is constantly pushing our own edge, going out of our way to learn new marketing skills, and hiring the right consultants to make sure all of our listings shine above our competitors. We will never rest on last year's results when there is an opportunity to innovate and do the work better than we have done it before. 

Here is a small sampling of the marketing we do for each of our home listings. 

• Stunning Photography Including Sunset and Drone Shots
• Unique Videos designed for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Vertical IGTV 
• Original Blog Content Marketing
• Targeted Email Marketing
• Listing Syndication to Over 100 Sites
• Facebook Advertising
• Instagram Advertising
• Online Marketing Designed to Capture Search Optimization
• Neighborhood Marketing

See a small sampling of our marketing on our listing page >>

Managing the Transaction

There are a lot of really good real estate brokers in Seattle. And all of them would agree that one of their best commonalities is getting the transaction close. Getting into a contract with a buyer who never has an intention of closing on the home will only hurt the seller. Kim has over twenty years in this business and has managed all kinds of tricky situations. Her real skill is about the ability to close on the home. 

First time home sellers may remember what it was like to wait on an inspection, appraisal, and do a final walkthrough as buyers. It’s very different as a seller, as they are the ones who need to prep and manage it all. The smart seller is prepped and ready to problem solve at every step.

Team Diva is here to help. We have a ton of blogs and videos to help a first time home seller to the most experienced home seller win in any market they might find themselves in. Pop on over to our Team Diva Home Seller page and let's see if we can help >>.