Listing a property for sale can be quite the challenge. From determining a fair price to advertising your listing online, creating a successful listing is a very detailed process.

Additionally, your listings will be in competition with similar properties in the area, because you are all vying for the same consumers. Given these circumstances, it's important to place a lot of effort into your listing, construct it methodically and ensure that it appeals to the clients you have in mind.

The question quickly becomes: What steps can you take to sell your property quickly and for the price that you want?

Determine a Fair Price

The first step to successfully listing a property for sale is to determine a fair listing price.

This is easier said than done. As the seller, you obviously want to get as much return as possible for your property, but you also have to be careful not to scare off potential buyers by asking for too much.

Two of the easiest ways to come up with a fair value are: Get an appraisal or use real estate comps.

Real estate appraisers will often be able to determine the best price to sell your property. Appraisers can evaluate the value of a property based on a variety of factors, including:

• Property condition

• Square footage

• Neighborhood

• Proximity to major cities and retail

• Amenities

• Safety issues

A real estate appraiser will do more than take a quick look at the interior and exterior of your building. They are trained to determine the value based on the bigger picture, often using information like the year the property was built to the state of the local economy at the time of listing.

The other approach is to use real estate comps. The term simply refers to comparing your property with similar properties in the area to determine a fair value. Appraisers often employ this method to value properties, and you can use it on your own to get a good idea of what your listing price should be.

When looking for comparable properties, you should consider:

• Size in square footage

• Amenities

• Location

• Clientele

• Year built

After finding similar properties in the same area, you can then search sites like Trulia and Zillow to check the current listing prices and recent sale prices of comparable properties. This information will give you a good baseline when determining how to value your listing.

Create a Digital Walk-Through

We live in an age dominated by digital media and convenience.

The buyer’s journey often starts online—even when making a purchase as significant as buying a property.

Buyers want to be able to get as much information as possible about your property before taking any more steps toward making an offer. This includes being able to get a good look at the interior of your property.

For this reason, real estate brokers and entrepreneurs looking to sell their property have begun a trend of putting together videos or 3-D walk-throughs of listed properties. This allows consumers to have an accurate idea of your property and to see how well it fits their needs. It is in your best interest to provide as much information as possible to potential buyers, so they know all of the facts before making an offer.

Making these digital walk-throughs is also very straightforward. You can take high-quality images, a video tour of the house or even livestream your open house events.

Make Renovations

One of the easiest ways to significantly increase the value of your home while making it more appealing to buyers is to make renovations. You should strongly consider any necessary or cosmetic renovations before listing your property.

In fact, it would be a great idea to complete a property inspection. Inspectors can identify any potential structural and safety issues, giving you a clear outline of the necessary renovations you need to complete. Also, consumers would make offers with much more confidence if they know that the property has passed a preliminary inspection.

Beyond renovations made from necessity, you should consider making minor cosmetic improvements to increase your expected ROI. These types of renovations include:

• Installing new flooring

• Installing eco-friendly appliances

• Repainting the exterior and interior

• Improving accessibility (ramps, elevators, etc.)

Making renovations is a great way to increase the value of your property and attract more potential buyers, but they can be expensive. It might be a good idea to take out a small loan to cover the cost of renovations and repay that loan with interest at the time of the sale. This is an extremely safe plan, because you are not paying for the renovations out of pocket and you will be able to add value on the house that is greater than the price you paid to make those adjustments. 

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential online marketing tool that every real estate broker should utilize to help sell their properties.

Good SEO practices will help your listing appear in searches for properties in your area. In order to sell a property and generate interest, you need to make your potential buyers aware that you have a property listed for sale.

SEO is one of the most effective ways of communicating information. When writing the body of your listing, consider using keywords and keyword phrases.

For example, if you’re selling a retail property in Boise, Idaho, you can target keyword phrases like “commercial properties in Boise.” By doing so, your listing would appear more quickly on search engines and therefore generate more traffic.

Search engine optimization is your key to increasing the online presence of your listing.

Selling a property has a number of challenges—starting with creating and advertising an effective listing. Use these tips to help make your listing more attractive to potential buyers.