Maryland 8 Home Selling Tips: A Guide to a Successful Sale

 

What are the steps to Sell a House in Maryland?

The process can be overwhelming and frustrating, but it is also rewarding. You should start by making sure your home is priced right.

Understanding the perspective of potential buyers is a crucial part of selling anything. It’s not just about what you’re trying to sell, but also understanding why people buy it in the first place and how they’ve come to form their opinions.

There are plenty of ways for buyers to get that information – by looking at home décor blogs or magazines, comparing features against listings on websites like Zillow or Redfin. Pinterest searches can be useful too.

So how to get ahead of other home sellers just like you?

Strategize on selling your Home

 Before you go out there and sell your house, you need to have a plan.

Yes, you may not follow every step of your plan but if you have targets to hit? The process of selling will be easy.

1. Consider staging your home

2. Price your property competitively

3. Make sure you have a professional photographer take pictures of the interior and exterior of your home

4. Have a clear, well-written description of the property’s features and benefits that highlights its strengths in comparison to other homes on the market

5. Choose an agent who is experienced with selling properties in Maryland neighborhoods similar to yours

6. Choose the right time to sell

7. Prepare for Inspections and Legal Concerns

8. Create flyers for neighbors, potential buyers, real estate agents, and community groups describing what makes this house special

 

  1. Consider staging your home

 

Staging for a home can be done in many ways. The house is often decorated with furniture, new paint, and plants to make it seem like the perfect place to live. With clear goals of making your property appear more attractive or less cluttered—anything goes!

Staging homes transform them into something that looks brand-new without actually having spent any time renovating at all! Showcasing the best features while demonstrating potential makes staging such an important part of selling a home as buyers are able to see themselves living there from just looking through photos online by visualizing their belongings placed carefully around each room.

Whenever the market heats up (like what is happening now), buyers will often want to spend their money on updating or repairing your home before they move in. Staging allows you to make minor updates and repairs that would otherwise cost a lot of time or money come across as simple changes instead.

When people are interested enough in purchasing your house, staging it can be an excellent way for them to envision themselves living there without making any big investments into remodeling first because if done correctly even small improvements seem like major ones!

  2. Price your property competitively

Real estate is a competitive market, and there are many factors that affect home values. One of these elements is the homeowner’s opinion about their own property – but this isn’t one you should rely on too heavily when pricing your house.

One of the biggest factors that cloud the judgment of a Maryland Home Seller on pricing their home is the emotional attachment that they built for years or even decades of living in their property.

It’s important not only because buyers don’t care about all those fond memories you may associate with certain rooms; rather, if sellers make unrealistic assumptions about what potential buyers will pay for properties like theirs due to personal sentimentality (or any other factor), then they’re unlikely to be able to find another buyer.

You may want to use our Comparative Market Analysis Tool to have a better scope of how much your home in Maryland is worth against the prevailing market price.

 

Pro Tip:

If you want to have a free consultation? Feel free to reach our NK Real Estate Team and we are happy to help you!

Contact us here.

P.S We will not oblige you to pay or sign something, we just want to help. 😊

 3 . Make sure you have a professional photographer take pictures of the interior and exterior of your home

We are living in a world where our eyes dictate our purchase! Our generation made the term “Instagramable” to describe a photo that captures not just our attention but also our emotions.

 Selling your house on the net with low-quality pictures is a recipe for disaster.

Taking pictures with your phone is great but knowing how to shoot a house from a certain angle that gives the viewer a small story at the back of their mind is even better.

 Pro tip:

You can take classes on SkillShare on how to take pictures using a Phone or you can skip the line, and hire a Professional Photographer in Maryland to do the job.

For as low as $50 you can find Photographers at Upwork.

Remember, eyes are the primary organs being used in browsing the world wide web, satisfy it and you will sell your home in no time.

  4. Have a clear, well-written description of the property’s features and benefits that highlights its strengths in comparison to other homes on the market

 Your listing description is the first impression buyers will get of your home. It’s important to include details about the number and type of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, on-site amenities if any exist such as pools or tennis courts), star utility rating (if applicable) and more so that potential buyers can determine if it fits their needs early in the process.

  5. Choose an agent who is experienced with selling properties in Maryland neighborhoods similar to yours

If you choose to be an FSBO, you can read this article, but if you are snooping around this content and want to sell your house with a Real Estate Agent in Maryland you’re in the right article.

Maryland Home Buyers don’t buy their home like they are buying in the supermarket, they buy homes with a Real Estate Agent.

Here’s some fact from National Realtors Association:

88% of buyers recently purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker, and 6% purchased directly from a builder or builder’s agent.

Having an agent to help them find the right home was what buyers wanted most when choosing an agent at 51%.

73% of buyers interviewed only one real estate agent during their home search.

91% of buyers would use their agent again or recommend their agent to others.

Marylanders want to buy a home and you can help them do so. The best Maryland listing agents know what they need when buying, how to find it for the right price, and then closing the deal with expert advice from start to finish.

  6. Choose the right time to sell

Is there a perfect time to sell your house in Maryland?

Well, according to the research made by Redfin:

June is the best time to sell a house because based on statistics, this month gives a seller +$23,417 more value on the average price of a home and also, during this time, a listing is being sold in 13 days or less.

Does Season affect people’s urgency to sell?

Here’s an analysis by listclever:

Seasonal Considerations:

Spring: Buyer demand typically peaks, but so does inventory, which means more competition with other sellers

Summer: The level of competition remains high, but buyers with families will be highly motivated to move before the school year begins

Fall: Real estate activity typically starts to taper, but the level of competition among sellers drops off as well

Winter: This is the slowest time of year for many markets, but off-season buyers also tend to be more qualified and serious

 There are gazillion factors that can affect the timing of a sale, but remember to ask a professional first so you can be informed by the overall status of the market, especially nowadays the economy is tanking so hard.

Pro tip:
You are never alone in selling your home in Maryland, in fact, there are so many Real Estate Agencies in Maryland that will give you a consultation for free, one of which is us. 😉 NK Real Estate Group can give you Comparative Market Analysis so we can see if the average value of your home shoots together with your neighborhood’s average.

  

  7. Prepare for Inspections and Legal Concerns

If preparing your home and looking for a potential buyer is hard for you? Here comes a more sophisticated task in selling your home in Maryland.

THE LEGAL CONCERNS.

In every transaction especially “Selling a House”, there’s a lot of paper works and obligations a seller needs to complete so that both parties are protected during and after the negotiation.

Pro Tips:

Know Maryland Disclosure Requirements

Like most states, Maryland requires home sellers to declare all of the essential information about the defects of the property being sold to the prospective buyers.

Maryland Law, Real Property Section 10-702 gives you an option either to declare defects and areas need for repair or not declare what lies beneath the home being sold.

You might think that choosing the route of not declaring “because you don’t have the knowledge”, is the best option so you can get away with the liabilities you will encounter if they found out after the transaction that your ceiling is infested with termite, think again.

Buyers have the liberty to hire a home inspector to uncover the reason why you choose not to disclose any issues of your home that are being sold. This can greatly affect the flow of the price negotiation process and could potentially kill the transaction due to a lack of trust.

 

Maryland Home Inspections

If a buyer will buy your home through a lender, an inspection is conducted to ensure the quality of the property being sold.

Sometimes, buyers also opt to get a home inspection for their own peace of mind.

Inspection period usually lasts 2 weeks to complete all the requirements and inspection reports. It is carried out after both parties signed the Purchase Contract.

 

What are the common inspections in Maryland?

1.Radon Testing

2. Well and Septic Tank Tests

3. Chimney Inspection

4. Overall Home Inspection

5. Pest Inspection

6. Mold Inspection

7. Home built prior to 1978 must disclose lead-based paint hazards

When Selling a Home in Maryland? Do I need a Lawyer?

YES, you need an attorney when you want to sell your home in Maryland, you are required by the law to get a Real Estate Attorney together with 20 other states in America.

Hiring an attorney is a costly thing to do but keep in mind that having an attorney is a blanket to avoid more costly legal mistakes during and after the home selling negotiations. Even if it is not required to have a Real Estate Attorney, it is a good practice to have a legal entity present in a big transaction such as this one.

They can give you advice, review your contract and even assist you with unusual home selling transactions such as selling of home during a divorce or selling a home with inheritance issues.

 

Documents that you need in Selling your Home in Maryland

Primary Documents

● Affidavit of Title

● Signed Deed

● Copy of Purchase Agreement and Any Addendums

● Closing Statement

● Bill of Sale

● 2 Valid Government Issued I.D

Maryland Disclosure Forms

● Residential Property Disclosure and Disclaimer Form

● Flood Zone Statement

● Lead-Based Paint Disclosure

You might need these Documents

● Survey Results or Survey Affidavits

● Home Inspection Results

● Proof of Repairs or Renovations

● Home Warranty Information

● HOA Forms and Guidelines

● Loan Payoff Information

● Relevant Affidavits (Name Affidavits, Non-Foreign Affidavit Under IRC 1445, etc.)

● Closing Disclosure

● Copies of Relevant Wills, Trusts, or Power of Attorney Letters

 

 

  8. Create flyers for neighbors, potential buyers, real estate agents, and community groups describing what makes this house special.

I put this last because you might say that this is the least important, well it is, but you must not omit the power of good old marketing.

Some people are not tech-savvy like you and me, they might be enjoying their lives and avoiding the noise of the internet.

Most of the people in this category are in the 50’s+ bracket which constitutes 34.4% of the total Home Buyers in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area. Source: nar.realtor

So if you want to tap into those 30+% of the older generation who might miss out on your social media post or MLS listing on the world wide web? Try this old marketing trick.

 

  

  Conclusion:

The world of real estate is one that can seem daunting to navigate.

With everything from the staging, marketing, and pricing aspects of your home coming into play when you’re trying to find a buyer, it’s no wonder so many people are hesitant to take on this challenge alone.

Luckily for them, there are experts who have been navigating these waters for years and we would love nothing more than to help guide you through this process!

We offer competitive rates with our experienced agents who know what they’re doing in Maryland neighborhoods similar to yours. You won’t regret giving us a call today at (202) 888-0043 or emailing us at mailto:info@NKREGroup.com