St. Maarten is one of the most breathtaking destinations in the world, rich in culture and beautiful sights. Most individuals imagine themselves retiring in this exquisite destination, having the perfect dream home in St. Maarten. Unfortunately, real estate transactions aren’t easy here, especially not for the ones trying to sell their St. Maarten homes.
Selling a home requires much more than negotiation skills; you’ll need to do some other simple tasks before selling your home. Luckily, we’re here to make this process easier for you. If you’re considering selling your home, make sure you do these things before putting your home on the market.
1. Find a Professional Real Estate Agent in St. Maarten
Do you think you can sell your St. Maarten without additional help? Do you want to save up on the cash you’d otherwise have to pay a real estate agent? As tempting as this may sound, you need to resist this. Most experts claim that in most cases, “for sale by owner” can prove to disastrous and time-consuming.
Therefore, find a professional real estate agent in St. Maarten to work with before selling your home. Remember, selling your home and buying a new one are the most crucial decisions you’ll make. So, it’s imperative to have the right person by your side, and that’s why you can’t just blindly trust any real estate agent; you need to do your research.
The ideal real estate agent should have good knowledge about the St. Maarten real estate market and should be willing to communicate with you. When you find any potential real estate agents, interview them to ensure they’re the right fit for the task.
Your real agent should be someone you feel comfortable reaching out to, and someone who can help you sell your home with stellar profits. So, don’t hesitate to speak to a few real estate agents before choosing the right one.
2. Improve Your Home’s Curb Appeal
As cliché as this might sound, potential buyers judge a house by its curb appeal. Before selling your home, you’ll want to ensure your home makes a good first impression on potential buyers. In addition, you need to ensure your house’s appeal compels them to buy or schedule a tour. Therefore, your curb appeal needs to be spot on to woo buyers.
If you’re worried about the expenses, don’t be; you can spend on easy and effective fixes such as front door repairs, landscaping, etc. Not sure how to improve curb appeal? Ask your real agent; they’ll likely offer valuable advice, ensuring you invest in the right improvements.
3. Declutter the Living Area
Are you selling your home in St. Maarten? A golden rule for prepping your home before selling it is less is more. All the clutter around your living space can make your home look cramped, making potential buyers think your home isn’t spacious. In addition, buyers might think there isn’t enough space for their belongings.
As a result, potential buyers usually avoid investing in such homes. Therefore, clean everything from your windowsills, counters, to tables. Now, move on to all the clutter behind closed doors—this includes drawers, closets, cupboards, etc.
Don’t forget to get rid of extra stuff lying around; you can pack and store it or donate it. Decluttering your home won’t just make it appealing for potential buyers but can also help seal a good deal.
4. Depersonalize Your Space
The next step on your home selling checklist is depersonalizing your space. Did you know potential buyers are likely to purchase a home where they can imagine themselves living? However, if your home is too personalized, they’ll immediately be put off. Therefore, before putting your home up for sale, remove distractions that can jeopardize the selling process.
Put away any personal items such as photographs, bold artwork, etc., in your living space that can make your home less appealing to others. The goal here is to create a canvas so potential buyers can imagine themselves living in your home effortlessly.
5. Touch Up Any Scuff Marks
If you’re not ready to repaint your home before selling it, no worries; just pay close attention to scrubbing your walls to ensure there are no unappealing stains. Once you’re done, quickly touch up your walls, baseboards, doors, etc., to make the house look well-maintained.
Selling a home isn’t an easy task, but selling one with tons of problems and repairs can be tricky. When buyers tour a home or visit open houses, they expect to fall in love with the home of their dreams rather than a home that requires tons of repairs that might add to their expenses.
To impress buyers and sell your home quickly, fix it before selling it. A well-kept and maintained home ready to move into will likely draw more attention and generate more offers.
6. Fix Any Loose Door Handles
This might seem insignificant, but you’ll be shocked by the negative impact a missing or loose door or window handle can have on a buyer. When buyers spot such issues, they question other damages in this house.
When selling a home, you don’t want to leave any room for doubts for potential buyers.
7. Add Some Plants
Plants can immediately brighten up a space, making it look more welcoming. An excellent tip would be placing a bouquet on the dining table or a bowl of fruits on the kitchen table.
Doing so can automatically make buyers feel at home, drawing them to the property. In addition, natural elements and greenery can impress potential buyers by adding the perfect touch of life and color to your home.
8. Conduct a Smell Test
Did you know every house has a particular smell? These smells aren’t necessarily foul ones, but if they are, they can be a deal-breaker for many potential buyers. The worst part is since you’re accustomed to this smell, you might not even notice it. To remedy that, ask someone else to help detect these smells.
If the smells are persistent, you need to do some deep cleaning since most buyers see right through a seller’s masking tricks, such as room fresheners, scented candles, etc. In addition, covering up the odors with strong spells can backfire if a buyer isn’t comfortable with the smell. You can also bake a batch of cookies to make it smell good in your home.
9. Clean, Clean, and Clean
You want your property to look pristine even if you’re not stressed about what potential buyers might think of the smell. Consider this: When your home is in its best condition, you’ll be taking professional images. Of course, you’ll want your home to look as flawless in real life as it looks in the pictures.
Always keep your home clean for potential buyers, as you never know when they might schedule a quick home tour. Pay special attention to the bathrooms, ensuring the tiles, shower fixtures, counters, and floors are clean and spotless. This is because bathrooms are one of the top rooms buyers focus on when buying a property.
10. Consider Home Staging
Do the décor and furnishings in your home look a little bland? Think about it; would you be interested in purchasing a home that doesn’t look its best? You’re probably going to say no.
There’s nothing that breathes life into a house more than a home staging. Home staging is a popular and highly effective technique to ensure your home appeals to potential buyers. You can always ask your real estate agent for some help.
Generally, the home staging process involves evaluating your home’s condition and looking for ways to elevate its appeal. It doesn’t have to be any expensive improvements; tweaking minor details such as furnishings, décor, etc., will do the job. Moreover, all you need to do is follow those tips, shift some furniture around, and you’re done!
What Selling Mistakes Should You Avoid?
Since the home selling process can be a complicated one, it’s normal to make some mistakes along the way, especially if you don’t have the professional assistance of a real estate agent. Here are some common selling mistakes to beware of:
Setting an Unrealistic Price
Whether you’re selling your home on your own or you have an expert real estate agent by your side, setting the ideal asking price is crucial. You and your agent might have conducted a comparative market analysis to determine the right price to ask, but buyers do the same for the home they’re buying.
Therefore, you need to be a step ahead. For you, your home may be priceless, but you need to stick to a realistic asking price depending on your location. Overpricing it will only make it harder for you to sell your home. However, a good price can boost the demand and increase offers.
Expecting the Asking Price
All smart buyers will negotiate, and if you want to seal the deal, you need to play smart too. Instead of overpricing, some sellers price their homes at an appealing price attracting more buyers, while ensuring there’s plenty of room for negotiation. This trick can work, allowing the buyer to think they’re getting a good deal while letting you get your desired price from the sale.
Your asking price will depend on the market and not just on your strategy. For instance, if you’re selling in a seller’s or buyer’s market, the prices will differ.
Skimping on Listing Photos
Since numerous buyers are searching for homes online, and most of these homes offer photographs, you’ll be at a disadvantage if you’re not capturing your home too. The best part about using listing photos is they’ll set you apart since some sellers use poor-quality images. So, if you put up some good pictures on the internet, your listing will surely spike interest.
The ideal listing photos need to be clear and taken in adequate natural lighting to highlight every feature of your home. These pictures aim to showcase your home’s top features, so make sure they do just that. Instead of focusing on unappealing aspects of your home, photograph the best features to attract interested buyers.
Selling to Unqualified Buyers
It’s more than acceptable to anticipate a buyer to bring a proof of funds (POF) or pre-approval letter from a mortgage lender or for cash purchases to prove their financial capability to purchase the property. The sale of the buyer’s property can be a condition of signing a contract, which could place you in a difficult situation if you have a deadline for closing.
Can’t Find a Reliable St. Maarten Real Estate Agency? BrightFuture Realty Can Help You!
As mentioned above, selling your St. Maarten property can be an exhausting task, but what makes it worse is the lack of professional assistance from a real estate agent.
If you’re struggling to find a reliable and expert real estate agency in St. Maarten, we’ve got the perfect solution for you—BrightFuture Realty is all you need.
BrightFuture Realty is a widely recognized full-service real estate agency in St. Maarten. The company was founded after its sister company, BrightPath Caribbean, gained immense popularity all across the Caribbean.
BrightFuture Realty offers highly professional real estate services, assisting interested sellers to sell properties in St. Maarten at stellar profits while helping buyers purchase their desired property. Their property listings feature some of the top St. Maarten properties for sale, rent, and commercial use. In addition, their team of real estate agents provides locals and foreigners exceptional real estate services, thanks to their multilingual skills.
Get in touch with them to sell properties in St. Maarten and get professional help from the leading real estate agency in St. Maarten.
