Selling a house doesn’t have to be stressful. In fact, thanks to the rise of the internet, selling your home has gotten a whole lot easier. However, just because it’s easier doesn’t mean it will be all smooth sailing. The average home sale takes around 68 days, and that means you might have a lot of waiting to do.

 

Luckily, you don’t have to sit idly by waiting for your home to sell. If you’re asking what do I do after I list my home, you have a lot of options. You need to prepare your home for sale, make it appealing to buyers, find the right agent, and respond to your marketplace. Let’s break down the individual steps.

 

Find an Agent

If you don’t already have a real estate agent, now’s the time to get one. While you can add your home to services like Zillow and Realtor without an agent, you’ll still want to have some help promoting your property. Agents bring a lot of skills and resources to the table. They’re connected to interested buyers, they have greater access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), and they know how to prepare a home to sell quickly.

 

Before you know it, a for-sale sign will appear in your yard and you’ll have a lockbox to give your agent access to the home when you’re not home. This can seem offputting, but it’s key to have your home easily accessible if your agent finds interested buyers. No matter your market, you need your home to be prepared to impress.

 

What do I do after listing my home for sale? Cleaning

 

Declutter Your Space

While you might have already tuned up your home in preparation for listing, it’s time to start deep cleaning and really decluttering your space. Your house now needs to be “show ready” at all times. This doesn’t mean you can’t keep living in your home, but you need to be aware of its presentability whenever you leave.

 

Things to do include sweeping the counters, vacuuming, and breaking down clutter. If you simply have too much stuff, it might make sense to pack some of it up and store it in a storage unit or a relatives home for the time being. While this might seem like a chore, it will make the moving process much simpler.

 

Remove Any Distractions

While you might love your things in your home, they can be a turn-off to potential buyers. Your buyers don’t want to walk in to see your family portraits and your kid’s paintings on the walls. These are lovely things, but they give off the feeling that your home is claimed already.

 

You want to depersonalize yourself by removing any distractions. Then, the buyer can actually see themselves in the property. Remove things like photos, bold artwork, and any unusual furniture. Your home should become something like a blank canvas.

 

Prepare for Home Traffic

It can be weird to have strangers in your home, but you should prepare for the most traffic and attention between 2 – 3 weeks after listing your home. This is when it’s likely to have caught the attention of the most buyers.

 

Your agent will likely host an open house within the first few weeks of listing your home. Your house will need to be ready for showing by this point, and the event will be hosted for both brokers and the general public. Always try to steer clear of your open house and let your agent take care of things.

 

While many sellers think open houses are when people buy homes, only 7% of buyers purchase a home they saw in an open house. However, they’re still a great way to generate awareness, especially amongst other agents.

 

Consider Your Strategy

It’s normal for the excitement around your home to die down after a few weeks. Yet, this dies down in traffic without any real interest can be disappointing and frustrating. If you hit the 60-day mark and you haven’t seen any real momentum, it’s time to talk to your agent.

 

It might be time to try a new promotion method. Your agent might use social media promotion, host another open house, or try another method to gain neighborhood attention. If you’re in a challenging market, don’t fret too much. Things change fast in the real estate world. Small differences sometimes make a huge impact.

 

Final Thoughts

Are you ready to sell your house? If you’ve been asking what do I do after I list my home, these are the next steps you need to take. The main takeaway is to keep your home looking its best and to stay positive.

 

You need to trust your agent to know that they’re doing the right thing for your property. From there, it’s often just a waiting game to find the right buyer.