First-Time Home Seller: Tanja's Top 3 First Steps

Just decided to sell and feeling the overwhelm set in? A little structure goes a long way toward getting a home sold faster and for more money.

Hi, I'm Tanja Odzak, Realtor with eXp Realty, helping people sell and buy homes right here in the East Bay for the last 10 years.

Four things get a house sold: marketing, negotiation, condition, and location. Let's start with condition. Decluttering and deep cleaning comes first, and it's a bigger job than most people expect, so start early. Pack away anything you won't need in the next few months, including personal photos, you'll have to move it eventually anyway, so this is a head start.

A clean, decluttered home looks bigger and brighter, and a dirty one signals to buyers that the home might not have been well cared for, giving them a reason to look elsewhere. Clean cabinets, wash the windows, replace burnt-out bulbs, and deep clean grout so floors actually shine.

Finish those half-done projects, fix plumbing leaks, and make sure mechanical systems, the water heater, furnace, stove ventilation, garage door, are all in working order. If the interior hasn't seen fresh paint in a while, it's worth considering, that bold kitchen color you love might read very differently to a buyer walking in cold.

I'm Tanja Odzak, and I've sold over $100 million worth of homes with a decade of experience in the East Bay. These interior steps set up the first impression, curb appeal is the next piece, and just as important.