Selling a home in 10 steps

To sell your home, you’ll need to know your market: How much are similar homes selling for in your neighborhood, how fast are they selling and what type of upgrades will boost your selling price.

A real estate agent can provide crucial guidance on these decisions, from determining the listing price of your home and how to stage it to evaluating offer terms.

However, the first steps can be taken months or even years before you decide to sell.

Here are 10 steps to selling your home:

1. Set your timeline and start decluttering

As soon as you know you are going to sell your home, begin the decluttering process. The longer you have lived in home the more belongings you have likely gathered. Ideally, you want three to six months to prepare your home for the market.

Spring is typically the most competitive market for selling because families want to move before the next school year starts. As Homes.com reported, May is typically the best month to sell a home, rewarding sellers with a 9.5% premium over a home’s value. November can be the worst month, with owners receiving a 6.4% premium.

Questions to consider:

Is your home in a buyer’s market? It might be worth waiting until the number of listings declines.
When do you want to move?
Can you move and buy a new home before selling this current one?
How much are you willing to invest in your home to help it sell?

If you are hoping to sell in the spring market, then start decluttering in the fall or winter around October and November. If you are selling on a shorter timeline, just start as soon as possible. Decluttering doesn’t mean getting rid of everything you own over nights, it's about pairing down on what you want to take with you into your new home.“Most people miss this: Decluttering before a move is also a gift to yourself,” said Katy Wells, declutter expert and author of the forthcoming "Making Home Your Happy Place: A Real-Life Guide to Decluttering Without the Overwhelm.” “Moving can be one of the most stressful life events, and the last thing you want is to haul boxes of stuff you don't even want into your next chapter. Every item you let go of now is one less thing to pack, unpack, and find a home for later.”

Decluttering is also the first step to staging a home, a strategy to market your house to buyers. To start, go through your home, room by room, and sort belongings into keep, sell or give away piles. Only keep the items that you want to take with you in the move.

Decluttering questions to consider:

Have I had the opportunity to use this in the last six months?
Do I expect to use or need this in my new home?

For sentimental items, Wells suggests taking photos of special items before donating or selling.More on this topic:

2. Interview and hire your real estate agent

According to the National Association of Realtors 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, about 90% of sellers used an agent. Good agents know their markets: what is selling, how to price your home and how many homes are on the market in that price range. They can also make suggestions to boost your property's curb appeal, whether certain repairs may be necessary and which updates would be good returns on your investment.

If you hire an agent, look for one who is familiar with your local market, including neighborhood trends and pricing. Experience and referrals are other factors to consider. What kind of commission are they looking for? How do they market the home on social media and elsewhere?

It was typical, but not required, practice for the sellers to pay their agent and the buyer's agent, but recent litigation has led to changes and clarifications. Now, sellers must be informed that they are not required to pay the buyer's agent. If they want to pay the buyer's agent, they can; they just can't say that in the listing description on the Multiple Listing Service. Real estate online marketplaces pull from the MLS feed. Commissions are not set by law; they are negotiable. They have typically hovered between 5% and 6%, split in some way between the buyer's and seller's agents.

You can try to sell the home yourself, but that can set you up for legal issues and frustration. Only about 7% of sellers chose to list their property on their own, according to the NAR’s 2024 survey. Also, homes sold with the help of an agent tend to sell for more. The typical for-sale-by-owner home sold for $380,000 compared to $435,000 for agent-assisted transactions, the survey indicated.

More on this topic:

3. Make repairs and upgrades

Painting the interior and exterior of your house is an easy way to add value, as is trimming the bushes, mowing the lawn and adding mulch and flowers.

But there are some repairs that can't wait. Is the roof old? Is your electrical system out of date? Even a leaky faucet signals to a prospective buyer that home maintenance was not a priority for the sellers.

Some sellers don’t want the hassle of renovations and list their house “as-is.” But this tells buyers you’re not willing to make any repairs, and can attract low-ball offers. These are also known as “handyman’s specials” and are very popular with investors looking to flip properties by purchasing them, fixing them and then renting or reselling them.

Spending a lot of money right before asking for more to buy a new house affects your credit score. Consult with your agent on which repairs are needed and a bank or mortgage lender on the best way to finance renovations.

More on this topic:

The 3 home renovation projects that pay off the most at resale

4. Set the list price, contingencies and exclusions

Remember that all real estate markets are local. Homes may sell at a breakneck pace in one part of the country but slowly in others. A search on Homes.com can show you current asking prices and recent sales, down to a specific neighborhood. Your agent will use listing and sales information of other properties in your area within the past six months to do comparisons, or "comps," and come to the right asking price for your property.

When you sell, you customarily leave behind anything attached to the structure. If you have a wall-mounted TV, you may be expected to leave the bracket because it is considered a fixture of the home. If you want to keep the living room drapes, you'll have to put in an exclusion so you aren't forced to convey those.

You'll also have to determine what kind of seller contingencies you want to place on any offer. You can ask to rent the home for a certain period of time or to push off the closing so you can find your next home — also known as a rent-back agreement.

More on this topic:

What to do when you and your agent disagree on your home’s list price

5. Gather paperwork on past repairs and renovations

Buyers will want to know that you pulled permits on that patio extension several years ago and didn’t build over the neighbor’s property line. Be sure to check with your municipality to ensure there are no outstanding issues, and if you belong to one, your homeowner's association.

Shoppers also want to know who installed the furnace and whether you can furnish service contracts and/or warranties.

Prepare to document the age of your home's major systems — electrical, HVAC, plumbing, etc. — and any improvements you made. A furnace, for example, typically lasts 15-20 years, according to HVAC manufacturer Lennox.

If you have solar panels, you need to say whether you own or lease them and how much power they generate. Be prepared to show prospective buyers the installation contract.

More on this topic:

Understanding seller disclosures

6. Prepare for showings and open houses

Before listing the home, a seller should consider how they market their property to potential buyers. This is commonly done by staging the home in a neutral but attractive style. The goal is to show a home that is move-in ready for buyers.

If you are living in the home while it is on the market, then staging will largely consist of items you already own. Agents or professional stagers can provide advice on how to set up rooms and add finishing touches. Keeping the space clean and void of signs of life is important. The goal is to make the home feel impersonal.

Remove personal items.
Set out clean or new towels, bedding, bathmats and blankets.
Remove extra decor or furniture
Open the blinds and curtains in all rooms.

If the home is empty of furniture, then consider hiring a stager to bring in rented pieces. Setting up the core rooms of a home — living room, dining room and primary bedroom — can help buyers visualize the house as a home.Once the staging is set you will need to take quality images of the home to display with the online listing. Consider hiring a professional to maximize the picture quality.If the home is empty of furniture, consider hiring a stager to bring in rented pieces. Setting up the core rooms of a home — living room, dining room and primary bedroom — can help buyers visualize the house as a home.
More on this topic:

7. Consider the offers

Price is not the only factor when considering offers, but it is an important one.

If you have multiple offers, the highest one might not be the best because of other factors like the closing timeline. You may need to move quickly, or you may need to find a new home to buy. So, lining up your home’s sale with your ideal timeline would be valuable.

When pricing your home, you likely already have calculated what you will owe to pay off the mortgage or home equity loan. Offers above the asking price could mean more money for you. But it could be riskier to accept if the buyer still needs to secure financing.

All cash offers are more secure and often lead to faster closing. You can evaluate buyers' financial security by comparing how much earnest money they are depositing and if they are pre-approved for a loan. The larger the deposit, the more protection you have if the buyer walks away without justification.

But if an offer doesn’t meet your needs, consider countering. Everything is negotiable: what you’re willing to fix before selling, what you’ll take with you and whether you’re willing to pay all of the closing costs in exchange for concessions from the buyer.

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8. Prepare for inspection

Buyers typically pay for the inspection. Their mortgage companies may require it to ensure the home is worth the loan. All-cash buyers may also need an inspection to ensure they aren't purchasing a property with expensive maintenance issues.

Some buyers waive the inspection contingency in a strong seller's market, but it's not advisable to do so.

Sellers may want to consider price reductions or other concessions if an inspection turns up major work that must be performed. Waiting for repairs can complicate the tight space between moving out and closing dates.

More on this topic:

Understanding seller disclosures

9. Close

The purchase agreement with the buyer sets closing dates. In deals involving a mortgage, it can take four to six weeks from the date of the agreement to give the parties time to get financing in place, pack and move. During this time, title companies check for outstanding claims against a property.

Closing usually takes place in the office of a lawyer or the title company handling your closing. You should be able to attend in person or conduct a virtual closing. In some cases, you may be able to sign the closing documents in advance or give another individual power of attorney, allowing that individual to act on your behalf during the closing process. Many sellers retain a real estate attorney at closing to protect their rights and ensure all goes smoothly.

You'll need to provide some information at the closing, including details on the bank where you want the money transferred after the buyer pays for the home.

Sellers have their own set of documents to sign, such as a final settlement statement summarizing the fees and charges that the buyer and seller face at closing. Closing costs, fees and liens are paid first from the buyer's funds, and you get what's left over.

More on this topic:

What closing costs does a seller pay?

10. Pack and move

Consider what you are going to box and what you are going to pay the movers to pack. Generally, movers will not fully insure items they have not packed themselves, so maybe save the fine dinnerware for them.

Be sure to mark your priority boxes, the ones you'll need within the first couple of weeks of your move.

There are several steps sellers can take if they decide to hire movers, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Be sure to get a written estimate that's based on an actual in-person review of your household goods. A U.S. Department of Transportation number is necessary for interstate moves. Also, verify that a mover is insured.

If moving from one state to another, movers must give all clients a booklet from the federal government titled "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move." The booklet provides information on what to do if goods are lost or damaged during the move.

This story was updated Dec. 11