Selling your home is a big decision that you want to do both right and — let's be honest — quickly! Well, Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing" star and author of Sell It Like Serhant, Ryan Serhant, is here to tell you HOW.
(And Ryan has sold over a billion dollars in real estate this year, so he's an expert!)
Here are his tips to help you avoid common home-selling mistakes.
1. DON'T OVERPRICE
Ryan calls overpricing the number-one mistake that everyone makes because people put their emotions into the price of their home.
"Always think about what the actual price is," Ryan says. "You'd rather have more people come into the door to start and maybe even bid up."
2. DON'T LEAVE PERSONAL PHOTOS HANGING
Although a studio audience member named Susan who is ready to sell her home has a beautiful mantel filled with family photos, Ryan urges her and other sellers to depersonalize their home.
"The first thing you do when you're putting your home on the market for sale is you walk around and look at all the beautiful photos of your pets, grandchildren, your grandchildren with your pets, and you put them away because your buyer will walk through [and] they'll forget to pay attention to the house," Ryan says.
Sounds small — but according to him, it goes a long way!
3. DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF WHITE WALLS
You want to project your house as an open canvas so that your buyer walks through and imagines themselves living there — so Ryan promises that white walls are the way to go.
"You want them to say, I love these white walls, I can see how my own 'Star Wars' themed wall would look here," Ryan says.
Hey, when someone buys your house, they can do whatever they want!
4. DON'T LEAVE CLUTTER AROUND
Remove the books, magazines and your coat rack. (Yes, your coat rack!)
"To a buyer what that's gonna say is, 'Whoa, they grew out of their closets, they needed a coat rack which means they grew out of their home, which means I'm going to grow out of this home too — I'm not going to buy it,'" Ryan explains.
That makes SO much sense.
He also suggests hiring a cleaning service or doing a deep clean of the house.
5. DON'T LEAVE YOUR 4-LEGGED FRIEND AT HOME (TAKE HIM FOR A WALK INSTEAD!)
Although we are animal lovers here at Rachael Ray, not every buyer likes pets (and you never know if someone is allergic!) so if you have bowls or leashes, put them away. And if you have a furry friend, take that cutie patootie on a walk so your buyer can come in without necessarily associating them with the home.
All of Ryan's tips are "so that the buyer can walk through [your home] and say, 'Wow, I can see myself living here instead of saying I can see who lives here.'"
6. DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE CURB APPEAL OF THE HOUSE
"When you're selling a home, you're putting it out on the market, it's your first impression. And if you're not careful, your first impression is your last impression. And it's all about the curb appeal," Ryan says. "The facade — make sure it's painted, it's beautiful."
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His advice for a viewer who he says has a big, beautiful, two story house is to update the landscaping. "Bring in some beautiful flowers, some bushes, because that's the first thing people are going to see — and it's also the last thing as they're leaving the house," Ryan says.
Hear more of Ryan's advice in the video below.
