When homeowners like you decide to sell their home it can seem like an overwhelming process. I'm here to tell you the process of selling your home can be smooth and enjoyable! Homes have continued to sell nationwide due to an increase in lending options, low-interest rates, low inventory, and low foreclosure rates. That's fantastic news for sellers, but when you put your house on the market it can end up in one of two categories:

1. Homes that sell for above-asking price with multiple offers soon after they hit the market.

2. Homes that sit on the market for months without any offers or promising prospects.

All sellers hope their home will end up in the first category - acquiring multiple offers, selling in a timely manner, and for the right price! Luckily when you work with a qualified and skilled real estate agent they can provide the best services to get your house sold for the right price!

If you want to acquire multiple offers you need buyers to bid above the listing price and compete with other buyers. Here are steps you and your real estate agent can take to make sure that happens!

1. Make It Gorgeous - In-Person and Digitally

The homes that get multiple offers are those that appeal to buyers the second they see it. If you want multiple offers, you need multiple buyers to fall in love with your home. You can start by preparing your home.

Make sure your home is spotlessly cleaned. That includes closets, basements, and garages. When buyers look at your home they almost always look in storage spaces.

De-clutter your home - go through your home and get rid of things you will toss when you move. Also neatly pack away unnecessary items to give your home a clean airy feel.

Home Staging - Home staging is one of the best steps you can take to get multiple offers and increase the sale price of your home. Buyers want to be able to imagine themselves living in your home. That's why it's important to remove personal items such as family heirlooms and photos. Removing clutter and making your home fresh and inviting is key. As a certified home stager and interior designer, I provide home staging services to all of my clients. Click here to learn my free home staging tips!

Make necessary repairs - fixing repairs now can increase your asking price and offers. This includes fresh paint, carpet, and other things that need replacing. Make sure things like doors, windows, heating, air conditioning, and appliances work well and are not dysfunctional. If you have any home improvements completed or replaced any appliances or systems, that will be great when it comes time to market your home! (See more information about home repairs in the next step!)

If your home is immaculate, in great working condition, and move-in ready, buyers will be more likely to put in an offer!

It doesn't stop there. Before buyers decide to come to view your home in person they will see it online. This makes your home's online presence the first showing. This is why high-quality professional photos are an absolute must. If your home doesn't stand out to the buyer they are not going to schedule an in-person showing. Once you complete the above steps to make your home gorgeous, make sure you work with a real estate agent who hires professional photographers to photograph your home in the best light. Great photos will leave buyers saying "Wow!" and excited to see your home!

2. Home Inspection and Pre-Listing Appraisal

Having a professional home inspection completed before your home goes on the market is important because it covers the infrastructure of your home. Everything from foundations, roof, furnace, to plumbing, electrical, heating, and insulation will be checked and assessed. Inspectors can be effective by uncovering the less obvious issues and working with you to properly evaluate the future buyer’s inspection report since many buyers will request their own home inspection.

If you have a home inspection completed prior to going on the market this allows you to repair any items that may cause issues, reduce the price of your home, or deter buyers. Leaving too many necessary repairs is one of the many issues that can prevent your house from selling. After your home inspection is completed the inspector’s report can be available to potential buyers. This lets them know more details of the home and makes them feel reassured. In addition, many buyers may be willing to rely on your report and remove the home inspection condition in their offer.

Getting a Pre-Listing Appraisal by a professional appraiser ensures a proper list price. An appraiser researches appropriate market areas and analyses statistics and information about the property. An appraiser then provides unbiased opinions about the value of your property and works with sellers and agents to establish a list price. They may also give advice on pricing strategies.

3. Pre-Marketing Your Home

Coming Soon!

Before your home even goes on the market a skilled real estate agent will begin marketing your home to buyers and agents in their network. Many average Realtor waits until a home is listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to start marketing. They just list your home, put up a for sale sign, and start showings. They also tend to wait for buyers to come to them. Doing this misses out on a great opportunity to get your home in front of hundreds of potential buyers.

Pre-Marketing is such an important step because this lets agents and buyers know your home will be coming on the market soon, which gets people excited to see your home, and they can begin scheduling showings when it's available. This way when your home goes on the market it's already been seen by many buyers and showings start right away. More buyers and more showings lead to multiple offers!

Here at AgentCrumbie Team, we provide many marketing services including a pre-marketing campaign. Before your home is even listed we launch a marketing campaign to get potential buyers and buyer agents just as excited about your home as we are. We also create a "Coming Soon" countdown page! It's created specifically for your house, in the weeks/days/hours before your house hits the market.

We post your home to Facebook and send out an eMarket Just Listed Announcement to the industry & top agents throughout Central Arizona.

We promote the listing to top buyer’s agents immediately, and we also throw a catered Broker Preview of your home to give top brokers access before it's even on the market! Pre-listing marketing campaigns can get 100's of potential home buyers interested in your home before it even hits the market. Pre-marketing creates demand. Demand can create multiple showings and multiple offers.

Click here to see all the services we provide and why sellers hire us!

4. Give Realtors and Buyers Ample Access

In order to get multiple offers, you want to be as accommodating as possible when it comes to showing your home. While most showing requests come with plenty of advance notice, sometimes buyers will request to see your house when they drive by, or out-of-town visitors looking to relocate may only be in town for the day. Making sure your home is always in show-ready condition will increase your chances of multiple offers. Keeping the entire home ready for showings is very important because you never know which person will be the buyer of your home.

When a buyer is looking for a home they often have specific wants and needs such as bed/bath count, square footage, etc. Their real estate agent will schedule multiple showings in one day, and if your home isn't available they may see and put an offer on another house, therefore excluding your home from a motivated buyer.

Although having your home show-ready at a moment's notice is inconvenient and time-consuming, consider that the buyer you say no to could have been YOUR buyer. You want your home to sell for the best price possible, therefore you should be willing to deal with the inconvenience involved with getting your home in front of as many buyers as possible. The more buyers that see it, the less time it will be on the market!

5. Set a Timeline

Part of getting multiple offers is allowing your home to be seen by the maximum number of buyers in an acceptable amount of time. Some buyers will only be available to look at houses on the weekends, or some may be out of town one weekend when your open house is being held. At the AgentCrumbie team,  we often put together a timeline of what dates your home will have an open house and be available for showings. Having a timeline for showings and offers creates urgency while also letting buyers know that they will have the opportunity to see your home and if it's the one, get their offer in to be considered.

6. The Price

One of the most important elements of selling your home is to: Price it Right! We discussed the importance of getting a pre-appraisal. Pricing your home right is very critical. It's important to work with an experienced agent who knows the market and takes the time to research homes in your area in order to know how to properly price your home in the market.

Pricing too low and too high is a very common mistake. Too low and you miss out on money in your pocket. Too high and you get few to no offers, and well under the asking price. The AgentCrumbie team can help guide you on the sales in your area, the latest trends, and the reality of what your home is worth. This will give you the best opportunity to get multiple offers and the absolute best price for your home.

If your home is already on the market and has been for some time, we have a tip for you! The Sweet Spot Phenomenon. This phenomenon is where an overpriced home sits on the market for months with no prospects, even through multiple small incremental price reductions. Then, the seller finally lowers the price to the 'sweet spot,' and it generates multiple offers and ends up selling for more than the final list price!

For example, you may attract more buyers with a price reduction from $699,000 to $674,000 than with a number of small reductions from $699,000 to $679,000. This happens because there are buyers who are only searching for up to $675,000, so reducing your price low enough exposes your home to a new group of buyers!

With multiple offers coming in many times sellers will end up netting more than they expected because in response to a lack of showings and offers they were willing to give a large enough price reduction.

If your home has been on the market for some time and you're thinking of making a change, please contact us! We can figure out a pricing strategy that's likely to maximize your net sale price!

Click here to read our happy client testimonials!

7. The Right Real Estate Agent

Finding the right agent to work with is crucial for the process and sale of your home. You should meet with a few agents you think maybe a good fit and see what services they offer and who you're most comfortable with. A qualified and skilled agent provides premier marketing and customer service.

We at the AgentCrumbie team want buyers to know what makes your home special. We know there are many reasons you fell in love with your home. That's why we offer premier services that make buyers fall in love too.

Our local market knowledge ensures we will get you the highest price in the shortest amount of time for the sale of your home.

Download our helpful guide for things to consider when selling your house.