Top Five Ways to Prep Your Condo for a Quick Sale

So, you’ve made the decision to enter the glamorous world of condo real estate and sell your unit. Congratulations! There’s not much more exciting than listing your property, putting it up on the market, and watching it sell – and that’s exactly where this blog comes in.

Whether you’re reading this at a time when the market’s hot or when it’s a bit more cooled off, there are some tried-and-true tricks of the trade that’ll help you prep your condo for a quick sale and turn a potential condo buyer into a sure sale in no time. Without further ado (we’re trying to sell this unit fast, right?), let’s jump on in.

Five Tips and Tricks to Move Your Condo From “Just Listed” to “Sold”

1. Sell at the Right Time (Which is Really Almost Any Time)

When it comes to home sales, there are all sorts of rules to follow – certain times to list, certain times to market, certain times to sell. With condos, though, it’s pretty much open season with regards to when it makes sense to sell.

A big part of that has to do with the folks in-market for a condo – they tend to be younger, retired, or newlyweds, so there aren’t typically concerns about moving at a certain point in time to avoid disrupting the school year, etc.

The one detail to potentially consider concerning timing is connected to your condo community’s location. If it happens to be situated in a town or area particularly driven by tourism, making the decision to list during high traffic will not only see your condo sell quicker but likely for a higher price as well – which brings us to our next point.

2. List for the Right Price (Like, Actually)

Your condo’s list price is typically the biggest influencing factor when it comes to how quickly your unit will sell. Of course, you want to be sure you get fair market value for your property, but there comes a point where you need to decide if the juice is worth the squeeze. Sure, you could list a little high to be sure you get top dollar for your property, but that will likely mean your home sitting on the market a lot longer before your find the right condo buyer. Additionally, you might end up needing to drop the price below the value it would have sold quicker for initially anyway, as condo values tend to rapidly dwindle the longer a home sits on the market.

To get a sense of what to list your home at, it’s always a good idea to look at what units in your condo community have gone for in the past (or are even on the market for currently). Keep in mind the realities of your condo versus theirs, though – a better view, upgraded features, or other similar sorts of considerations play a very real role in determining the ultimate value of the property, and it’s important to take these details into consideration when listing and negotiating.

3. All Your Condo’s a Stage

First impressions matter. Taking the time to stage your property could mean the difference between selling within days or months of listing. The key here is to make your condo look nice, but neutral, giving your potential condo buyers the opportunity to picture themselves living within the space. Clean every nook, scrub every cranny, and fluff every pillow – you’ll be slapping a “SOLD” sign on your unit in no time.

4. Don’t Bother with the Open House – errr…Condo

Open houses take a lot of time and energy to set up, and the reality is that this investment just typically doesn’t tend to pay off when it comes to condos. It makes sense, too, when you think about it – more often than not, people at open houses are there to kill some time, check stuff out, and simply aren’t that serious when it comes to buying. Add in the fact that you miss out on foot traffic as a result of being in a complex or building, and it soon becomes clear that there are better ways to invest your time and energy when it comes to selling your unit.

5. Do Some of the Legwork in Advance

You’re wanting this unit to move fast, right? So, get out ahead of things and remove any roadblocks you can in advance. A great way to speed things up is to get a pre-listing home inspection done. This will be attractive to serious buyers who now feel confident that they can get a rundown on any glaring issues they might be confronted with during ownership up-front, even if they still want to get their own inspection done before signing on the dotted line.

Take a moment to evaluate and understand any details around who can or cannot buy into your condo community according to any regulations your condo corporation has laid out as well. Some boards, for example, might have regulations around time that owners must spend living in their unit, pets, short-term rentals, and more – knowing about these provisions up-front will help screen out buyers who might not be a match, saving both your time and theirs.

The more of these sorts of barriers-to-entry you can clear ahead of time, the quicker you’ll be able to move through the process of selling once you find the right condo buyer.

Are you looking to sell your condo unit? Looking to gain more knowledge or insight into the best way to go about the process? Contact us directly. We’re here to answer your questions!