So, you and your wife/husband/buddy/life partner have been taking for a few months about selling the house and the time has finally come. You call your agent to tell them that you’re ready to list it and would like it on the market in a week. Unfortunately, there’s likely no way it will be ready to go in that time frame.
When I get hired to list a home, there’s a general misconception that I just throw a couple of photos up on the good ole interwebs and 45 days later, I get to cash in. It’s a little more involved than that. If you hire a good agent, there’s a lot that goes into this process. For instance, all of my listings come with a house cleaning and professional photos. These need to be scheduled but they can’t happen until my client goes through the house and removes (or hides) all personal artifacts and aggressively simplifies the whole place. Depending on which of my packages that a client chooses, I may also have a pre-inspection for general safety and a pre-inspection for electrical, as these help the seller with any requests the seller might get from buyers during the inspection process. And sometimes stuff needs to be fixed or painted or, depending on the time of the year, there may have to be some landscaping that needs to be done. All houses can be improved upon to earn the seller more money on the sale and it’s a good agent’s job to point those things out and to map a plan for how to get them done.
If you’re considering selling your home, contact your agent at the beginning of the thought process rather than when you’re ready to go. I promise you that, no matter how meticulous you are, there’s work to do.