I Sold My Home After 9 Days on the Market. Here's What I Did to Make It Happen

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the median days on the market for homes in the U.S. was 49 days in April 2023. That's a lot longer than the number of days my house was for sale. In fact, I listed my house for sale and had a buyer in just nine days. This was a big relief for me because I wanted to sell before I bought a new house.

Since my home sold quickly, I now have the money in my bank account waiting for me to find the perfect next property to purchase. But how exactly did I sell my home so quickly so I can move onto getting a mortgage and buying a new house ASAP? Here are the steps I took.

I priced the property fairly

The first big thing I did to make sure that my home sold quickly was setting a reasonable price. Homes that are priced too high end up sitting on the market for a long time. And in the end, they often go for less because they miss the "new home" buzz when they aren't priced right, and then the sellers have to drop the price, which can make buyers think a seller is desperate.

To make sure this didn't happen to me, I kept a careful watch on what similar properties were selling for. I set up alerts on several home-sale websites to notify me when a property in my neighborhood was listed, and then I watched what it was priced at, how long it took to sell, and what price the owners ultimately got for the property. Using this information, I priced my home at the cost comparable properties had recently sold for.

I marketed the home effectively

Another important thing I did was marketing the home effectively. I made sure that I listed it on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) since that's how most buyers find homes. I had professional pictures taken, including of neighborhood amenities.

And I wrote an engaging description turning one of the home's possible downsides into an upside. Since many of the other homes in my neighborhood were two-story houses that were a little larger while mine was a one-story home, I touted the benefits for "aging-in-place." This turned a potential negative into a selling feature for some buyers.

I decluttered so the house could look its best

The third step I took was to declutter so that potential buyers could really see the features that the home has to offer. I have small children so I had tons of toys and things around. I ended up putting just about everything into storage so the house looked bigger and so buyers wouldn't be distracted by the kid stuff that was everywhere.

I staged the home to give buyers an idea of how to use the space

Finally, the last step I took was staging the home to make the most of the space. The house had a somewhat awkward layout in the living room, so I created a "conversation area" to fill the space with a table and several chairs.

The buyers who bought our house were not even scheduled to come and see it, but their realtor came that morning and showed it to another couple. He said it was the best use of the space he'd ever seen in that model of a home, so he asked if he could bring his other clients through to get an idea of how they could use the layout. Those clients ended up being the buyers.

Taking these steps was simple enough, and it paid off big time since I no longer need to worry about when or if my house will sell. I can move on to the next chapter in my life sooner because I was able to find a buyer so fast.