1. Research
The first thing you’ll want to do is research. Look online and see what your neighbor’s home is selling for, how long they’ve been on the market, and see how they are selling their home. Have they used a professional photographer? Who is their real estate agent?
While it can feel like a disadvantage to sell your home at the same time as your neighbor, their listing can give you a lot of useful information. Based on what you know about the differences between your two homes, it will be much easier to come up with a solid price point you can feel confident about listing at.
You can also look at news articles discussing what the current market is like and how easy or difficult it will be to sell your home. The more you know, the better chance you have of making your home stand out and getting it sold.
2. Clean and Declutter
If you haven’t gone through your house and cleaned and decluttered it before a viewing or open house, that should be your next step. It’s very difficult for potential buyers to see themselves living in a home that’s messy or filled with another family’s photos.
Clean the floors, windows, baseboards, and surfaces as best as you can and take down personal items from walls, tables, or bookshelves. You want a potential buyer to be able to easily picture themselves living in your house.
3. Repair and Repaint
Repairs are also a must. If your neighbor has kept their house in top shape but your house has leaky plumbing and mold in the basement, your neighbor is likely to sell their home first. Repair major issues before scheduling an open house. (Not up for repairs? Remember — listing isn’t your only option. We’ll touch on this more later, but check out our blog on making repairs vs. selling a home as-is for more info.)
A new coat of paint can also give you a leg up on your neighbors. This is especially the case if you have every color in the rainbow covering the walls in your home, but even if you don’t, a new coat of paint can help things look more finished.
You may also want to add new flooring if yours is showing its age. If you can afford to change the carpet or a marred or stained floor, it will likely give your home the boost it needs to sell more quickly.
4. Improve Curb Appeal
Don’t forget the outside of your house as well. The first thing potential buyers will see is the outside and you don’t want to skew that first impression with a less than stellar exterior.
Even if you already have great landscaping, make sure everything looks its best. Remove dead leaves or plants, plant new bright flowers, and mow the lawn.
If you don’t have any landscaping, think about putting some plants in. If you can afford it, hiring someone to do the landscaping can give you an edge over your neighbor’s house.
If you need inspiration, look at other homes that have sold either in your neighborhood or online.
5. Staging
Staging your home or having it staged by a professional can present a better first impression than a home that looks lived in. People find it easier to imagine themselves living in a home that has been staged versus a home that has other people’s stuff in it. It gives them a blank slate to look at.
A vacant or staged home can also look much bigger. Without being filled with all your furniture and knick-knacks, the space will feel more open and attract a buyer much more quickly. And if your neighbors aren’t staging, you’ll definitely stand out.
6. Focus On Your Sale
While knowing what the competition is can be important, you may want to focus more on your home and selling it than worrying about whether your neighbor’s home is better or will sell more quickly than yours.
If you’re focused on your sale and doing everything you can to make your home look its best and be the most attractive to potential buyers, you shouldn’t need to worry too much about your neighbor’s home. Remember — there are lots of home buyers out there! Your neighbors can only scoop up one.
7. Tour Your Neighbor’s Home
If you really want to know how your neighbor is setting up their house to sell and how it compares to yours, you can always go to their open house and tour their home.
By touring their home, you may get ideas for better ways to sell your home, discover a few strategies to bring to your real estate agent for how to better market your house, or simply see that you’re doing everything you can to make your home attractive to potential buyers. You may be doing the same things your neighbors are.
8. Sell Your Home For Cash
While your neighbor selling their home at the same time really shouldn’t deter you, if you’re tired of the politics and wondering, selling your home for cash can provide an easy way out. Forget the staging, repairs, settling on a listing price, and more. A reputable, local real estate investor can provide a fair cash offer based on the market value of your home, and you can move on in just weeks — not months.
Selling your home at the same time as your neighbor can be tricky. Remove the stress of the situation by working with Renewed Homes. We’ll help find the best solution for you, whether that be quickly selling your home for cash or repairing it to sell for top dollar. No matter what, you’ll no longer have to worry about “keeping up with the Joneses.” Contact us to learn more.
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