About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing

In this, and the next series of posts, let's explore what it takes to get a house ready to go on the market.  The house on the right is, as they say in Texas, "fixin' to" be to listed in the local Multiple Listing Service.  But, it's not quite ready yet.

Your situation may differ, but the underlying principles and steps are, as they say in New Jersey, "gonna" be the same.

If you are about to sell in Addison, or Farmers Branch, or anywhere in the United States for that matter, you should begin preparations prior to listing the house.  Both the homeowner and the real estate agent have things to do prior to listing.

This house, located in Farmers Branch, a northern suburb of Dallas, just south and west of Addison, is an estate property.  The executrix, let's call her Deena (because that's her name!), contacted me about listing and marketing her father's home.  Deena warned me that the house has been unoccupied for 4 years and that the inside is untidy.

Prior to doing a drive-by, I pulled information about the house from the appraisal district website and I ran a market analysis on the subdivision in which the house is located.  Because there had not been much activity in the subdivision over the past 6 months, I also did a market analysis of all of south Farmers Branch, using small ranges of dates for Year Built, for Total Square Feet, and for Number of Bedrooms.

Armed with the information from my analyses, I drove past the house and snapped a few photos.  I also took photos of the school 2 blocks away and the park at the end of the street.  Then I scouted out the comparable homes for sale that turned up on the market analysis.  I attempted to schedule Preview Showings of 9 of the most similar homes, but was able to see only 7.

Next it was time to customize my listing presentation for this property.  With this completed, I met with Deena to see the inside of the house and to review the presentation with her.  She wasn't kidding about the "untidy" inside.  In addition to the remnants of the estate sale being left where they were, all the carpeting had been pulled up, and the place needed a thorough cleaning.  As we walked through the house, I suggested improvements that would help sell the property faster and I made recommendations on who Deena could call.  On the list: Karen Otto of Home Star Staging; a few  home inspectors for a pre-listing inspection; some handymen for the odd jobs; the cleanout people I use after estate sales; my favorite carpet and flooring guy, Joe Kboudi of All American Flooring; and some appraisers to measure the size of the house to include a sun room that was going to get a vent to share the central HVAC.

Coming next in the series About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing: Sprucing up the Exterior.