Home sellers are typically interested in two things: making a profit and making it as quickly as possible. Whether your timeline is being cut short due to a job relocation, a change in your personal life, or something else, the best way to sell your home is by developing an organized strategy.

If you want to the best advice on how to sell your home quickly, the following tips can help you implement a well-rounded plan. Let’s get started!

1. Select the Right Agent

The first tip for a rapid home sale is to hire a real estate agent with extensive expertise in selling properties in your local area. An experienced agent will understand your neighborhood’s unique market conditions and what local home buyers are looking for. Equally important, a good local agent will have the marketing resources and skills to cast a wide net across multiple advertising channels to make sure your home receives ample attention and reaches as many potential buyers as possible.

Get recommendations from neighbors who have recently moved into your neighborhood, or from friends with ties to the real estate industry. As you research real estate agents, look for awards or professional designations they’ve received, and how long they’ve been active in the industry. Check out listings on their websites to see if the homes they’re selling are aligned with yours in terms of size, neighborhood, condition, and price.

2. Clean, Clean, Clean

Whether you choose to do it yourself or hire a cleaning agency, a thorough deep-cleaning of your home is essential. And once clean, you also want to keep it that way. You never know when your agent might contact you with an urgent request to bring over prospective buyers for an impromptu viewing.

When embarking on a whole-house cleaning, it’s best to start at the top and work your way down:

Remove any ceiling cobwebs.
Clean the walls, paying attention to scuffs near baseboards, and use touch-up paint where needed.
Clean all windows and window treatments (dust shutters and blinds, and wash drapes/curtains if they need it).
Vacuum and mop floors, including baseboards, and clean all carpeting and rugs.
Dust light fixtures and furniture.
In kitchens, clean all hardware, appliances, cabinets, backsplashes, and countertops.
In bathrooms, scrub the tub/shower and toilets, and wipe down countertops, mirrors, cabinets, and hardware.

Homeowner wearing yellow rubber gloves cleans windows of sliding-glass doors in kitchen.

Once you complete this preliminary cleaning marathon, maintaining your sparkling-clean home will be easier. Be sure to make beds each morning, keep rooms tidy, and clean up your kitchen and bathrooms after each use. It might seem exhausting at times, but it’s worth it in the end.

3. Add Curb Appeal

While you’re thinking about how to sell your home quickly, pay attention to curb appeal. Although it’s not always feasible to make large changes at the drop of a hat, putting in a little extra effort by updating your home’s curb appeal is always a smart idea. External refreshes add value and go a long way toward attracting prospective buyers. Some ideas to consider:

Update landscaping, remove weeds, and beautify neglected areas.
Repaint or touch up your home’s exterior where needed.
Update your front door and hardware.
Gently power-wash your exterior to remove cobwebs and debris.
Replace your mailbox if it’s old or outdated.
Modernize aged address number stickers or plaques.

4. Plan a Neighborhood Clean-up Weekend

Organize a neighborhood effort to clean the streets, parks, and community, and make the entire neighborhood more attractive. You can all chip in on a power washer to clean the houses and driveways, hire a landscaper to add flowers to all the yards, and even have a painting party to spruce up the older-looking homes in your area.

When house hunters see the attractive quality of your neighborhood, they’ll be more apt to picture themselves living there. You can inspire your neighbors to help by reminding them that selling your home at the highest possible price boosts their homes’ value.

5. Consider Interior Upgrades

Inside your home, consider making upgrades if you and your agent believe they will pay off. Be careful about undertaking major updates like adding granite or quartz countertops, replacing aged appliances, or changing the flooring, especially if you only stand to break even on these expensive upgrades. Again, your agent can help you decide which projects to take on and which to pass up.

Kitchen and bathroom updates typically get the most bang for your buck, yet you don’t have to spend a lot of money to upgrade these spaces. Quite often, you can make a significant impact with minor changes, like replacing a dated kitchen backsplash with a stylish new one, swapping out cabinet hardware for a modern design, updating light fixtures and faucets, and painting your cabinetry.

A brand-new blue backsplash adds a vibrant pop of color to a kitchen.

Related: Try these creative bathroom refresh ideas you can do quickly and inexpensively.

6. Declutter and Store Personal Items

If you don’t want to spend the money for staging, or must stay in your home until it sells, declutter the rooms and store away personal items and other knick-knacks. Remove family photos, religious items, and other personal things that clearly label the house as yours. Buyers want to imagine themselves in your home, not see you and your family at every turn. What’s more, decluttered rooms look larger, neater, and more welcoming. You want to show off your home’s best features and make it feel comfortable and full of charm.

7. Repaint and Restore

If some of the rooms in your home are brightly painted or painted in a shade that is not neutral, repaint them. If you have wallpaper, remove it and restore the walls to a neutral paint shade. Most buyers can live with a neutral beige or white color, but may not love your burgundy walls or busy wallpaper as much as you do.

For people looking for a move-in-ready house, it could be a turnoff if they have to immediately repaint walls or remove wallpaper. And if you’re looking for a quick sale, making your home as appealing as possible to the broadest audience is key.

8. Consider Staging

If you have already moved into a new home or are willing to put some of your furniture in storage until your house sells, staging may be a good idea — and it’s one of the best ways to sell your home quickly. Once you move out, the staging company comes in and temporarily furnishes your home, typically on a monthly fee schedule.

Professional stagers are experts in transforming small spaces into larger ones and creating open, airy, and inviting spaces. They use strategically placed decorations and appropriately scaled furniture to design alluring rooms that establish emotional connections with prospective homebuyers. Staging adds a polished ambiance that looks professional and appealing on all fronts. A beautifully staged home tempts buyers to want to live there, which is why staged homes often sell faster.

A staged living room uses furnishings in neutral tones to appeal to a broad range of prospective buyers.

9. Price It to Sell

The first step toward determining a price is to review recent comps (comparables) in your area to check the final sale prices of homes recently sold. You can do this online or with the help of your agent. Then, together with your agent, you can decide on a price you’re comfortable with — one that takes into account the condition of your home, your anticipated profit, and your accelerated timeline.

When it comes to tips for selling your house fast, the most obvious one may be to price it below the competition, but be careful with this approach. A very low price compared to other recently sold homes in your area may be a red flag for potential buyers. They may believe something is wrong with your house, or that it’s vastly outdated to the point of being a total fixer-upper, and avoid it altogether.

10. Use Social Media

Talk with your agent about a solid social media plan that includes the most popular sites to help sell your home. When it comes to tips on how to sell your home quickly, this is hands-down one of the best ways, because it instantaneously markets your home to a vast audience. Make sure your agent has great pictures, a creative virtual tour, and unique descriptions that will get potential buyers interested.

Your agent may also create traditional marketing materials to share with fellow agents and use other strategies to advertise your home. Ask about these and make sure your agent is doing everything possible to help your home stand out and get noticed. The more eyes on your property, the faster it will sell.

11. Hold Open Houses

Open houses may seem less important these days when it’s easy to tour properties on popular real estate websites, but nothing compares to the vibe you get while walking through a house in person. That’s why holding multiple open houses is a must when you’re trying to sell your home fast.

For best results, make sure every room in your home is spotless prior to each open house. Consider placing attractively arranged flowers on a prominent table or piece of furniture, opening windows to introduce fresh air (be sure the windows are sparkling clean), or baking cookies to create a sweet homey aroma. In wintertime, a fire in the fireplace adds cozy warmth and an inviting ambiance.

12. Sweeten the Pot with a Home Warranty

Everyone likes to think they’re getting a good deal. Including a seller’s home warranty in your sale is a smart way to reassure potential buyers that their budgets will be protected if covered home appliances or systems break once they take ownership of the house. In fact, including a home warranty is one of the best tips for selling your house quickly because it gives buyers the confidence to submit their best offers, knowing they’ll be financially protected if a covered item fails.

A home warranty can also protect your budget should a covered household item break while your home is on the market. Your real estate agent can order you a First American home warranty once your listing becomes active. First American home warranties cover major household items like dishwashers, ovens/ranges/cooktops, electrical and plumbing systems, and so much more.

Get more details about our seller’s coverage and how it can benefit you when selling your home.