Sellers

 Selling Your Tennessee Home

Selling your home is an involved process that affects your family and your future.  Before you begin this process, you’ll want to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information.  When should you sell?  How do you get the best price? What kinds of renovations should be made prior to the sale?   We’ve prepared a Home Sellers Guide to help you get ready for the sale. 

When working with Diane O and Friends we get you the people and the information you need to make the best decisions when it comes to selling your home.  Here are some of the top do’s and don’ts we’ve put together over the years.  We have staggers and handymen who can make the seller process a much smoother one.

The Do’s

 1.  Get a stagger involved before you do anything.  We will provide a FREE 1 hour consultation with our partner staggers.  They will provide a plan to get your house ready for the market. 

2. Repaint Rooms. Paint with the buyer in. Use neutral colors throughout your home to lend continuity from room to room.

3. Wash and Paint the Exterior. Repainting or power washing your exterior increases curb appeal.

4. Shine with New Lighting. Bring out the best features of your house with lighting. A brighter room will appear more spacious and inviting to potential buyers.

5. Organize and De-Personalize. Cleanliness leads to closing. Clear your house of clutter with new storage or shelving. At the same time, help buyers envision the house as their own by removing personal items like knick-knacks and photographs.

6. Repair or Replace Window Screens. Fixing sagging, dirty or ripped screens is one of the easiest and most inexpensive home improvements for home sellers.  Many staggers suggest removing the screens for pictures.

7. Patch Drywall Dings and Dents Imperfections.  Problems like there suggest to homebuyers that their may be bigger problems behind the walls.

8. Unstick Stubborn Doors. Sticking doors are bothersome, and even more so to prospective buyers touring your home for the first time.

9. Repair Tile Grout. Make your bath and kitchen look brand new by ridding these rooms of shabby and damaged grout.

10. Upgrade Kitchen and Bath Faucets. Replace faucets to give your kitchen or bathroom a quick facelift.

The Don’ts

1. Putting the home on the market before it’s ready. Get the work done before marketing the property.

2. The home is improved more then those in the neighborhood.

3. Pricing the home based on what you want, not what the market will bare. It doesn’t matter what you wants, the price is determined by matter-of-fact reality of the market.

4. Hiring an agent who does not have a proven track record. It might be nice to hand over your largest asset to your nephew who just got his license — but make sure he has someone who will help him through the process.

5. Getting emotionally involved in the sale of your house. Once you decide to sell your house, it’s no longer a home, it is a property. Do not draw a line in the sand….you need to be open to negoitiations.

6. Not disclosing issues and problems. Tennessee has a property disclosure/disclaimer form which must be completed.

7. Not getting all your paperwork and finances in order before trying to sell. This would involve financing, reading the fine print on your current mortgage to ensure no pre-payment penalties.  If you are selling sooner then 10 years, you will be entitled to a financial reimbursement on your Title Insurance Policy.

8. Not leaving the property when their is a showing.  Buyers do not feel comfortable when the owner of the home is present, so they leave the property quickly.

9.  Cooking spicy smelly dishes.  It make be your favorite dish, but the buyers will just know that there is an oder and leave the home quickly.

10.  Leaving pets to roam the house.  Have a safe and comfortable place for your pet when your home is being shown.  It is generally best to remove your pets from the home