When we bought our home 2 years ago, we couldn’t dream of selling it, and now here we are
considering testing those waters. We’ve had a change in careers, family dynamic and overall lifestyle that warrants the change. With an increasingly hot real estate market, the jump to sell can be tempting but there are some challenges to consider. The increase of home prices, cash offers and interest rates to name a few.

The good news is that Rocket Mortgage® and Rocket Homes SM have offers that can take some of the stress off your shoulders & put a little money back in your pocket. If you choose to sell with Rocket Homes you could get up to $7,000 back after closing. Rocket Homes Partner Agents are licensed real estate agents who can advise on real estate intricacies and help you through the process of selling your home. If you are selling and buying at the same time, you can take advantage of the BUY+ and SELL+ bundle and you could save thousands through Rocket Mortgage.

This is our fourth family home over the years, so we’ve been on both sides of the closing table a few times. We’ve had the home that sold in less than 30 days, we’ve also had the home that sat on the market for months. That said, here are eight things you should do before listing your home:

Research Your Local Housing Market

To start, you should do your homework on the value of your home, as well as surrounding homes. The Rocket Homes app will put information about comparable sales right at your fingertips. Looking at comparable sales in your neighborhood can help you hone in on an appropriate listing price. Be mindful of variables like square footage and key features when comparing the value of your home to others in your area. For example, if your neighbor’s home recently sold for $500K, but your home is considerably smaller and doesn’t have a pool, it’s likely that you’ll need to list your house for less than what the amount your neighbor was able to command.

Find An Agent

An experienced real estate agent should be able to assist with determining a listing price for your home, as well as the best time to list for your area. We’ve always found our real estate agents through word-of mouth recommendations from our parents or close friends. However, Rocket Homes makes the process of finding an agent easy by connecting you to one of their Rocket Homes Partner Agents who are verified real estate professionals who are actively helping home buyers and sellers in all 50 states.

Refresh Wall Paint

If you have any chipped paint or eclectic accent walls, now is the time to repaint. You want potential buyers to be able to see themselves in your home so neutral paints are best. Wall colors in the white and light gray family will make your home appear bigger and brighter.

Declutter Thoroughly

You want viewing of your home to be as seamless as possible so removing clutter and organizing your space will help your space appeal to potential buyers. This will allow the buyer to focus on the actual home and its features versus all of your junk, toys and overflowing closets. If you don’t have the closet space to declutter properly, renting a storage unit may be helpful.

Deep Clean Your Home

You only get one chance to make a first impression, and dirty floors or bathrooms could turn a
potential buyer away. Before listing your home, give your home a thorough deep clean. This
means getting that cute little “artwork” off the walls, cleaning toilets and shower grout, floors,
baseboards and deep cleaning carpet. If the task seems too daunting, consider hiring a professional cleaning service. You want to do everything you can to make sure your home looks and smells its best.

Depersonalize Your Home

As previously mentioned, you want a potential buyer to be able to see themselves (and their
families) in your home. This means removing most of your personal touches from your walls and shelving units. Think family photos, awards and monogrammed accents. For photos, you could leave the photo frames hanging, but replace the photos inside with artwork or stock photos to keep that warm, welcome home feeling.

Hire A Content Team

Most potential buyers are likely to use your listing photos to gauge whether or not they ever
want to schedule showing of your home. So, it’s important to make sure that you work with a
qualified photographer (or videographer) that has experience with real estate photography. This isn’t something you want to try to DIY because you only have one chance to make a great first impression. Luckily, most licensed real estate agents will handle this for you.

Establish Must-Haves For Your New Home

Your existing home is under contract and you’ll be closing soon, so now is the time to start thinking about your next dream home. You’ll want to establish a list of must-haves or nonnegotiables for your new home. If you have a spouse, it’s a good idea to come up with this list together to make sure you’re both aligned on what you’d like to see in your new home. Once you’re happy with this list, it’s time to get back in touch with our friends at Rocket Mortgage so you can take advantage of their BUY+. When you buy a home with a Rocket Homes Partner Agent and finance it through Rocket Mortgage, you could get up to $10,000 toward closing costs from Rocket Mortgage.

Selling your home is a process, especially when you’re buying and selling at the same time. So be sure to learn more about the BUY+ and SELL+ offers to increase your savings and take some of the work off your hands. Happy listing!

Rocket Mortgage, LLC; NMLS #3030; www.NMLSConsumerAccess.org. Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in 50 states. AL License No. MC 20979, Control No. 100152352. AR, TX: 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906, (888) 474-0404; AZ: 1 N. Central Ave., Ste. 2000, Phoenix, AZ 85004, Mortgage Banker License #BK-0902939; CA: Licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act; CO: Regulated by the Division of Real Estate; GA: Residential Mortgage Licensee #11704; IL: Residential Mortgage Licensee #4127 – Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation; KS: Licensed Mortgage Company MC.0025309; MA: Mortgage Lender License #ML 3030; ME: Supervised Lender License; MN: Not an offer for a rate lock agreement; MS: Licensed by the MS Dept. of Banking and Consumer Finance; NH: Licensed by the NH Banking Dept., #6743MB; NV: License #626; NJ: New Jersey – Rocket Mortgage, LLC, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226, (888) 474-0404, Licensed by the N.J. Department of Banking and Insurance.; NY: Rocket Mortgage, LLC, 1050 Wo

Rocket Mortgage, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906

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Rocket Mortgage, LLC and Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC are separate operating subsidiaries of Rocket Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RKT). Each company is a separate legal entity operated and managed through its own management and governance structure as required by its state of incorporation and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.