Serious About Selling? 5 Steps to Make Your Home Stand Out

When it comes to selling your Mammoth Lakes home, you want to make sure your house stands out in every way. And to sell your home for the most money, you’ll need a good strategy to set it apart. Use these tips to make sure your home gets noticed and wins over buyers.

Stage your home to show its full potential.

It seems like often in Mammoth Lakes sellers will do the bare minimum to prepare their home for the market. But when a potential buyer steps into your home, they need to be able to picture themselves living their life there. If they’re considering your home as a vacation rental, they need to envision how rentable it is and whether it’s a good fit for the type of people they’d like to rent to.

Home staging is one of the hottest trends in real estate because it works. You might stage your home by rearranging furniture to make a room appear bigger or removing heavy curtains to make a room look brighter.

If your home is already set up nicely as a vacation rental, you probably don’t need to worry about staging. And if you plan to sell your Mammoth Lakes home fully furnished, you’ll want to leave existing furniture inside but make sure it’s making the best use of your space. Some people hire professional home stagers, but it’s not always necessary — here are a few inexpensive staging tips to get your home ready for a quick sale.

Draw buyers in with high-quality listing photos.

You just have one chance to make a first impression with potential buyers, and most buyers will first see your home through the online real estate listing. If your photos aren’t up to par, buyers may skip over your home.

Since Mammoth Lakes has a big second home market, people may be viewing your listing from Southern California or farther away, so good pictures are even more important here. I recommend working with a skilled local real estate photographer who has experience with your type of property — in some situations you might need a good drone photographer too. The goal is to show the true essence of your home.

Price it properly from the start.

You’ve probably seen some Mammoth Lakes homes sitting on the market for months. This can scare buyers as they imagine something must be wrong with the property for it to sit for so long. But the real cause is usually that they’re priced too high.

Most buyers shop listings in a certain price range that matches their budget. If your property is priced too high, it can’t compete with the properly-priced homes in a buyer’s budget range. If you price your home aggressively, it can hook buyers who are impressed to find your listing. Potential buyers can get emotionally attached, which can lead to multiple offers or a bidding war. This is good news — it usually means more money in your pocket.

Put on a good show at each showing.

If a buyer is interested enough to schedule a showing of your property, you need to put on a good show. Make your home readily available (often on short notice) for buyers to see. A missed showing is a missed chance to sell your home. If you have many restrictions on when it’s available to view, buyers may skip over your listing.

It’s also important to keep your home show-ready while it’s on the market. A little extra effort keeping your home clean, uncluttered and ready for buyers will help it sell faster, which means you can get back to normal life sooner.

Use a proven promotion plan.

Some agents still market their listings like they did 20 years ago, but I’m not a fan of that approach. It takes more than putting your home on the MLS and hoping it sells. I ensure that your home shows up in the places buyers are most likely to look. By using online and social marketing platforms in addition to offline (traditional) channels to connect with local real estate agents, your property will get maximum exposure. Check out my marketing tips to sell your Mammoth Lakes property.

For more tips on selling your home, check out my Ultimate Home Seller’s Guide, or give me a call at (760) 914-4664.