8 Tips for Selling Your Home Quickly

Whether you’re relocating for work or you’ve made an offer on another house and need cash for the down payment, there are plenty of reasons you may want to sell your home quickly. Luckily, getting your house ready for a quick turnaround might be easier than you think. Whatever your situation, here are eight tips for selling and closing on your current house as quickly as possible.

1. Make Your Home the Cleanest It’s Ever Been

A dirty or cluttered home can turn potential buyers off and cloud their judgment. That’s why it’s important to clean and declutter before anyone sees your home. If you have trouble seeing what needs to go, take pictures, think about what you have on surfaces, and generally try to see your home the way an outsider would. Tasks you won’t want to forget include:

Scrubbing down floors, walls, surfaces, and big appliances.
Purging closets and other storage spaces.
Donating or throwing out anything you don’t use or need.

As a bonus, the deep cleaning you do today will make closing on your house much easier.

2. Keep Your Space Impersonal

While potential buyers understand that they’re looking at someone else’s home, making a purchasing decision is easier when they can see a house as a blank slate, readily customizable to their needs. You can open space in a potential buyer’s mind by putting away family photos, cards, artwork, and quirky lawn ornaments. You may also want to consider whether staging or bringing in neutral furniture is right for you.

3. Emphasize Windows and Light

Light makes spaces look bright and open, and potential buyers want to know they’re investing in a home with lots of natural light. You can create a well-lit space by cleaning windows and making sure blinds and curtains are open for photo shoots and showings.

4. Consider Doing Small Repairs and Renovations

Relatively inexpensive home improvements, like painting a purple bedroom white, prying your kids’ stickers off the wall, or reglazing an ugly-but-functional bathtub can brighten the space and reduce buyers’ hesitancy. The same is true for the home’s exterior: consider painting window frames, sprucing up the lawn, raking leaves, and taking care of anything else that might distract someone from seeing themselves in your home.

5. Take Professional Photos

Most home shopping happens online, and if buyers can’t see the interior, they might skip your listing entirely or think you’re hiding something. Many real estate agents have photographers they work with at no cost to sellers, but if not, it may be worth investing in an experienced home photographer who knows how to capture light and photograph rooms from the right angles. It’s also worth considering a virtual tour option, either as a YouTube video or a 3D tour buyers can click through.

6. Accommodate Showings and Consider an Open House

Buyers appreciate it when you can accommodate their schedule, which often translates to evenings and weekends. To streamline your home for showings, keep things relatively organized and have a checklist of things you need to put away right before a showing. If your real estate agent suggests an open house, be receptive. Open houses can bring a lot of traffic—and potential buyers—in at once.

7. Discuss Timing with Your Real Estate Agent

What’s the best day to put your home on the market in your city or neighborhood? It seems crazy, but even the day you list your home can impact how quickly it sells. The good news is your real estate agent will have access to data that helps inform which day of the week is best for different types of homes and neighborhoods.

8. Make Closing as Easy as Possible

Getting ready for the final walkthrough and closing can cut days off your home sale timeline. And getting ahead of things can help you avoid stress later, particularly if you tackle heavier tasks like cleaning, finding manuals and warranties, and getting your documents in order.