How to Sell Your California Home in Record Time

The real estate market is hot, which is good news if you’re wanting to sell your California home in record time!

If you want to sell your home as quickly as possible, we’ve got a few tips for you. The faster you sell, the faster you can move on to the next phase of your life. So, here’s what we suggest for selling your California home fast.

1. Declutter Your Home

Decluttering your home is important for a few reasons.

First, when you have a lot of things in your home, it can make the rooms look smaller than they really are. Remove items from rooms, closets, drawers, and cabinets so that they look more spacious.

Think about re-arranging the furniture to maximize space and flow. Can buyers go freely throughout your home without bumping into things? If not, they may see your home as cramped and not roomy enough.

Decluttering really helps people envision your space as their own. The more they think about your possessions, they less they’ll be thinking about their own and how they might look in your house. Remove photos and memorabilia, as well as any political or religious items.

Decluttering also makes your home look its very best in photos and videos. Great photos and videos that really show what your home looks like can limit the number of people who tour your home in person.

2. Make Small Upgrades to Your Home

There’s no reason to go overboard on major remodels right before you sell your home. As we wrote about in this blog post, you likely will not see a 100% return on your investment.

What you should do is focus on some small upgrades that can make a big difference to buyers. In particular, focus on the kitchen and the bathrooms in the home. Think about replacing dated cabinet hardware, repainting to neutral colors, adding lamps for more light, and replacing faucets.

These inexpensive and easy upgrades can make your home feel clean and modern.

3. Stage Your Home to Sell Your California Home in Record Time

We just mentioned that it’s ideal for buyers to visualize themselves in your home, and staging can help them do just that. If your style is eclectic or unique, it can be difficult for buyers to imagine themselves moving into your home, especially if your style is very different from their own. Neutral staging, on the other hand, makes it easy for buyers to imagine the possibilities.

If you’re able to buy a new home or move before you list, we’re seeing tons of sellers move out, hire a staging company to professionally stage their homes, and sell those California homes in record time. Being completely out of the home can really let staging companies do their thing.

Also, as a bonus, well-staged homes tend to sell for more. Here’s a National Association of Realtors report on that very topic.

4. Be Flexible with Showings

Be flexible with showings. Buyers want to tour a home as soon as they find it online, especially in a hot market like ours where they are concerned about competing with other buyers. If buyers can see your home with little notice, more buyers will see it. If they have to wait, they may skip your home completely.

5. Be Ready!

Last, be ready! You could get any kind of an offer, including an all-cash offer with a 7- or 15-day close. Have a plan in place so that if you need to move quickly, you’re ready.

Some options if you need to get out of your old home fast are:

• Move into temporary housing
• Move in with family or friends until your new house closes
• Lease your home back from the new owners
• Purchase your new home ahead of time, possibly with interim financing

With a little prep work, you can sell your California home in record time and be ready for what comes next!