Sell Your Kansas City Home
There’s good news if you want to sell your Kansas City home. “Even as it seems the market can’t get any tighter, the inventory of homes available for sale in the Kansas City area continues to fall. With multiple offer situations becoming increasingly common, it appears that we have transitioned into a sellers’ market, at least for homes outside of the highest price ranges. These tight inventories have caused Kansas City area home prices to climb rapidly, increasing by 6.5 percent on average last year. We forecast that this trend will continue, with average prices rising by 4.9 percent this year and 4.2 percent in 2017.” That’s according to the 2017 Kansas City Housing Forecast from Wichita State University.
It may seem like there’s no competition, but properly prepared houses sell faster and for a higher price.
Here are 5 tips to sell your Kansas City Home.
- Make their first visit to your home a lasting impression. The lawn should be mowed and edged, dead stuff taken away or raked, plants trimmed, and flowers blooming in the flower beds. Wash the siding and windows. You want your house to stand out from the crowd.
- Freshly paint the front door. This is the welcome mat to your home. And while you are at it, make sure the doorbell and porch light work.
- Make it smell good when they walk in. There’s a beautiful resort in Mazatlan at Emerald Bay. When you enter the lobby, you a greeted by a clean, tropical smell that makes you want to linger. Have a friend walk into your home and give it the smell test.
- Declutter every room. “Get rid of the family pictures,” says, Staci Byers, home stager. “Get out of your house!” You want them to imagine their belongings, art, and books in “their” new home. I’m reminded of the time we adopted our dog Cinder from the Golden Bond foster family. We said to the family after meeting Cinder, “We’d like to take your dog.” They said, “We don’t have a dog. Cinder is your dog.” Get them to thinking it’s their house from the time they walked in the door.
- You’ve de-cluttered the house. Is it clean? Nothing will turn off the buyer more than filth. If they feel unclean walking through your house, you’ve failed to make a sale. Remember “Poltergeist” and the little lady who rid the house of ghosts? She dusted off her hands and said, “This house is clean!”
Here are 5 more tips to sell your Kansas City Home.
- Clean out the closets, the medicine cabinet, and the tops of dressers. The buyer doesn’t want to see any of that.
- Make sure the bathroom is clean, and all of your grooming gear is gone. You are going to move, so get out of the house.
- Paint! Take down the pictures from the walls, spackle the nail holes, and paint. Stick to neutral colors. We have a friend who has her living room painted a deep purple. It makes the room dark and her idea of home décor could be weird to a lot of potential buyers.
- Decorate tables with flowers. If you have room for al fresco dining, set the table with napkins. Let them picture themselves dining outside, enjoying conversation over candlelight.
- Stage your home for sale or hire a home stager. Your home will be clean, sleek, no distractive décor, and your chances will be great for a quick sale. Staged homes sell faster, and for a higher price. Today much of the initial shopping for a home is online. Professional photos of a staged house draw more buyers to an open house.
Terra Firma Property Solutions, LLC is a professional, full-service real estate solutions firm.
We buy and sell properties throughout the greater Kansas City area. We specialize in buying distressed homes, then renovating and reselling them to home buyers and landlords. Terra Firma Property Solutions is excited to be part of the economic rejuvenation of Kansas City and its surrounding areas.
Call us today at (816) 866.0566
