Selling Your Lincoln Park Home
Lincoln Park is a very desirable Chicago neighborhood, so you are in a good market to sell your home. While other areas of the city have seen major depreciation in recent years, Lincoln Park is still a hotspot for real estate and prices have not dropped much.
Comparative Market Analysis
One thing you should definitely do before putting your home on the market is get a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). Basically, CMAs help you determine how to price your home. These reports can often be very lengthy, but they give you a general idea of the competition by compiling data of active listings, pending listings, sold listings, expired listings and even those homes that are off-market.
Expired listings will help you gauge the highest sales range, just remember they expired for a reason -- and that's usually because of overpricing. Sold listings are indicators of acceptable prices that buyers thought appropriate. Pending listings are under contract, so again, those prices were deemed reasonable for the property. Active listings may vary greatly, so use your (and your Realtor's) best judgment when basing a price on those numbers. A CMA should highlight homes that are similar to yours that are also located in Lincoln Park. Because the homes are comparable to yours in square footage, amenities and condition, you can get determine a suitable asking price based on what other properties are going for in the same neighborhood.
Hire an Agent
It's crucial to find a good real estate agent if you are planning to put your house on the market in Lincoln Park. There are still those people who choose to sell on their own, but in the long run it will save you a world of time, money and stress.
There are many sellers' agents experienced in Lincoln Park real estate who know how to best market your home to potential buyers. Shop around to different agencies and select a few agents you think would be a good fit with your personality and expectations. Don't be afraid to conduct full-on interviews with real estate agents. This is an excellent way to see who you are most comfortable with and to find out just how extensive their expertise is.
Some home sellers like to see a Realtor in action before deciding. You can attend open houses in Lincoln Park and see how those agents are handling the sale. If it's something you like you can ask to meet about selling your home. Come up with a list of questions beforehand and have an impromptu interview right then and there. Sometimes locating a good agent is as simple as asking friends, family and colleagues for referrals of agents they have used in the past.
Get Your Home Ready to Sell
After finding an agent, it's time to give your home a makeover. Although it seems obvious and easy, this is one of the most overlooked steps in the home selling process. Your home should be in tip-top shape before it hits the market. Take a few steps back and view the home as someone else. Imagine you never lived there -- what would make you want to buy the property? What would make you not want to buy it? Make necessary changes, but don't go overboard putting money into a house you are not going to be in for much longer.
Take care of any repairs and adjustments before showing your home or having photos taken for the listing and any marketing materials your Realtor has planned. Even though you've been living with that wobbly doorknob and broken lock so long you don't realize they are there, this type of problem will stick out like a sore thumb to potential buyers. Attention to detail is key here! Go over your home with a fine-tooth comb and replace, change, fix everything that needs it.
Staging Your Home
Now, it's time to get crafty and stage your home. It is possible to do this yourself however for the best results and best return on investment you should consider hiring an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP). A staging professional is trained to know what color schemes and furniture arrangements will make the best use of space. Things like lightening and brightening are important to appealing to buyers and something as simple as de-cluttering and downsizing the amount of furnishings can make a huge difference in the way your house shows. Stagers go to every length to make your interior living space look great. They might even rent a different sofa and store yours to create the most attractive layout. An ASP's fine-tuned home selling eye will whip your place into shape in no time.
If you think staging your home yourself would be fun, go ahead! Just be prepared to spend a lot of time if you take the DIY route. You've got to think like a buyer and an artist at the same time. Here's a few tips to remember: You're trying to sell the home, not show it off as your own. That means you need to get rid of all the personals (e.g. family photos, refrigerator magnets, the old throw blanket Aunt Margaret knit for you). That's not to say you shouldn't have anything on display, just select items carefully. Feature non-personal paintings or shelf items and keep the number of things you have visible to a minimum. You want the buyer to be able to visualize the home on their own terms, to imagine how their own personal touches will affect the place. Focus on neutral tones for the walls and bright colors for the fruit bowl.
Home Inspection
It is a smart idea to have a home inspection before selling. Any serious buyers are going to have the place inspected anyway, so it can save you a great deal of time to get things up to snuff before a buyers calls it out and you lose a potential sale because of it. The inspection is a quick way to let you know exactly what kind of shape your place is in and will help you gauge how much you'll need to invest in repairs. Your real estate agent can recommend a professional home inspector.