We Sold Our Home in 3 Days! | A REALTOR® Tells His Home Sale Story
My wife Jennifer and I sold our home in 3 days! How did we do it? We operated with the following understanding: The Sale Begins Before You Even Try to Sell.
Home owners who become home sellers generally expect a quick sale, a fair price, and a smooth closing. To turn this list of reasonable expectations into reality, however, it is important for the home owner to understand that the process of selling your home begins before you list it on the market. It begins when you...
...regularly maintain your appliances, central systems, landscaping, home interior and exterior.
...decide which home improvement projects to pursue- e.g. "Remodel the master bathroom, or replace the aging roof?"
...choose between the most expensive upgrade and the one that fits your neighborhood price point- e.g. "Install hardwood flooring or laminate wood?"
...look at your home from the perspective of another person and ask, "Would a stranger find my home comfortable and functional enough to live in?"
Our Home Sale Story
While Jennifer and I had intended to spend many more years in our home in Madisonville, TX, we always factored in a future sale when deciding how to improve or repair our home. Thus, when our life took quite a turn when a professional opportunity arose in The Woodlands, we were confident that we could sell our home and realize a fair return.
Living in a modest neighborhood in a rural 
town, we weren't competing with fancy new homes or pricey remodels - just standard 1970's brick homes with simple features and few upgrades. So we focused on the following maintenance and improvement projects:
- Installing a privacy fence in the back yard between us and a neighbor with 2 dogs.
- Painting the (horribly dated!) wood paneling in our great room and den a warm yellow.
- Painting the bedrooms and bathrooms with creams and mild yellows, and the kitchen with a sage green and warm yellow duet.
- Installing quality laminate wood flooring in place of worn carpeting (which drastically reduced allergens!)
- Installing attractive but inexpensive ceramic tile in place of the kitchen and bathroom linoleum flooring. (Talk about ugly- I'm not sure this linoleum had ever seen "better days"!)
- Performing regular maintenance on our centeral heat and A/C units to increase their life.
- Retrofitting our water heater to comply with safety standards.
- Implementing pretty and easy-to-care-for landscaping in the front yard.
- Repairing structural or surface defects as needed over time.
- Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning our home from top to bottom.
Many of these projects - including the flooring and fence installation - we did ourselves with the help of family! That kept the costs down and lowered our total dollar investment in the home. When it came time to sell, our home was a bit more attractive and a little more updated than neighboring homes... enough to make it first-rate among its competition but not over-improved (two words you don't want the appraiser to use).
The next step was pricing. As a REALTOR®, I performed my own Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) to determine the average price per square foot of comparable properties, and then we priced our house at that market level- no higher. I then contacted other REALTORS® in the area to provide them information about the home, encouraging them to bring their buyers for a tour.
Result? 3 days and 3 showings later, we had an offer from a buyer represented by their own REALTOR®. And this past Monday the 29th, we closed on that sale!
The Takeaway
While every home and every real estate market is different, this general principle holds true: when home improving, put into your home only what you can reasonably expect to get back out. Life can get turned upside down, and unlooked for circumstances can require a sudden sale. By maintaining a balanced approach to your home investment, you can protect your value and enjoy your home - with a confident eye toward the future!
If you are thinking about selling your home in The Woodlands, Spring, or other nearby areas, don't wait to contact a REALTOR®! You can connect with me today to discuss how best to prepare your home for sale.
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