People still need to sell home fast and even though the real estate market in the Seattle is not what it was in 2007, homeowners in the Puget Sound are still able to sell their homes in 5 days or less! Yes, it is true that you can still sell a home in the Seattle area in 5 days or less. The following five steps (plus one) will generally sell a home in 5 days or less.

Step zero in selling your home in 5 days is choosing the right real estate agent.  Why is this step zero?  Because without a professional real estate agent you aren’t going to go anywhere fast!  Enlisting the help of the right agent to help you sell your home is key to getting it sold fast.  They have to know what they are doing and be accessible to answer questions and get things done!

The first step to selling your home in 5 days is having it staged correctly and ready for buyers to see. This means that your home is clean, clutter is removed and it is 100% showroom ready. As a professional real estate agent, I can tell you with certainty that a home that is cluttered, dirty and/or smells bad will turn buyers off instantly! You are already planning on moving, so take this opportunity to pack away all your personal items such as photos and extra clothes, as well as some of your furniture. Helping my clients decide what needs to be done to their homes prior to listing is

Step two to selling your home in 5 days, is to have a professional home inspection done ahead of time. This saves buyers some worry about what work needs to be done and gives you time to address any items that may come up. In all likely hood, you will recoup the cost of having an inspection done via the speed in which you sell your home and final selling price.

The critical third step to selling your home in 5 days, is pricing. For a fast sale you must price your home aggressively. I would suggest 10-15% below your nearest competition. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but when time is against you and you need to sell NOW, it is what needs to be done. With the abundance of homes on the market, buyers can be picky, and the first item on their list is almost always the price of the home. Price aggressively and you will get offers!

Step four to selling your home in 5 days, is offering to pay closing costs right up front. Almost all buyers are going to ask for at least some concessions to pay for closing costs, so speed thing up a little, and make your home more attractive to buyers by offering a reasonable amount towards their closing costs right up front. This may be the ticket in getting the buyers that were riding the fence, to make a move on your home.

Step five in selling your home in 5 days, is actually accepting an offer. In my career, I have seen it happen several times that we have brought a property to market staged and priced correctly and gotten an offer very quickly, only to have the sellers balk at it. They assume that if they got an offer that fast, they may be able to get a better one if they wait a little while. This is a false assumption. In general, you will almost always get your best offers first. The longer your home is on the market, the more shop worn it will be and the a lower price it will garner because of it. Speed is your friend. The faster you can get an offer in and accepted the better. Remember that every day that you are sitting in your home you are paying interest on your loan.

Those are the main five steps in selling a Seattle area home in 5 days. These rules apply to other areas of the country as well, but there may be some differences depending on your market. While there is no guarantee that following this formula will get an offer in 5 days, it normally should. 

If you have more questions or need to sell your Seattle area home, give me a call at 425-773-3149!  Good luck and I hope to talk to you soon!