Before you put your house up for sale, there are some important steps that need to be taken to be sure that you both protect your interests and make the most money when you sell.
The very first step is the most important to protect your own interests, and that is to get pre-approved to buy your next home before you have sold your current home. This is important because you don't want to sell your home and then have the unpleasant surprise of finding out that you don't qualify to buy another house that you might want or already had in mind.
Any number of things can affect your mortgage approval including a changed financial situation, or an increased debt to income ratio. So get your mortgage pre-approval first and find out for sure from your lender what price range you can afford to buy for your next home.
The next step is to call the lender who holds your current mortgage and find out exactly what your payoff figure will be for your current home. Knowing this will be essential for you to be able to know how much money you will be able to have to invest in your next home, as you just simply have to subtract your payoff and any costs associated with selling your home from the fair market value in order to get a general idea of how much money you will have in profit to work with.
I will help you to determine the property value by doing an exhaustive research on the property values in your area, that you can then use as a verification of the value of your home in any subsequent negotiations for the sale of the home. Also I'll give some helpful tips on how to increase your property value.
Before hand make a list of necessary repairs to your home to bring it into tip top shape. Most of the time, a home that needs little or no repairs will command a much higher price in the mind of most prospective buyers. You may either do them yourself or hire a qualified professional to handle it instead.
After all needed repairs are done, the last step is to make sure that any cosmetic blemishes are taken care of and your home looks its absolute best both inside and out. Have your lawn mowed and trimmed, and the inside of your home looking absolutly perfect. Maintain house cleanliness until the house has been sold and the papers are signed.
Make sure to determine in advance with your lawyer how much money you need to close the deal. Make sure the water, gas, etc. companies are notified that you are selling your home. Check with your lawyer when exactly you need to drop the keys, so you can coordinate your moving time.