Believe it or not, today may be the perfect day to kick off the home selling journey. If you list your residence, you may find dozens of potential buyers want to acquire your home. As a result, you could earn a significant profit from your house sale.

For those who are debating whether to embark on the house selling journey, there is no need to stress. In fact, there are several things you can do to evaluate your options and determine if now is the best time to list your home. These include:

1. Conduct a Home Inspection and Appraisal

A home inspection allows you to understand the current condition of your house. During an inspection, a property expert will examine your residence both inside and out. Then, he or she will provide you with an inspection report that outlines any underlying home issues.

Meanwhile, a home appraisal allows you to receive a valuation for your residence based on its current condition and the present state of the housing market. Once you have a property valuation, you may be better equipped than ever before to determine how to approach the home selling cycle.

2. Analyze the Local Housing Market

The local housing market may favor buyers or sellers. If you assess the local housing sector, you can differentiate a buyer's market from a seller's market and plan accordingly.

In a buyer's market, there usually is an abundance of available homes and a shortage of buyers. Thus, if you decide to list your house in a buyer's market, you'll want to do everything possible to differentiate it from the competition.

On the other hand, a seller's market generally features a shortage of quality houses and an abundance of buyers. If you list your residence in a seller's market, you may receive lots of interest in your house as soon as it becomes available.

To distinguish a buyer's market from a seller's market, analyze the prices of recently sold houses in your city or town and find out how long these residences were available before they sold. If homes often are selling at or above their initial asking prices and stay available for just days, a seller's market may be in place. Or, if homes sell at prices below their initial listing prices or linger on the real estate market for many weeks or months, the current housing market likely favors buyers.

3. Get in Touch with a Real Estate Agent

A real estate agent can help you evaluate your home and determine if now is a good time to list your residence. He or she is happy to provide insights into the housing market and ensure you can make an informed home selling decision. Also, if you have any concerns or questions about selling your residence, a real estate agent is ready to respond to them.

Allocate time and resources to decide whether to list your home today. And if you ultimately decide to add your residence to the housing market, you may want to hire a real estate agent too.

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Whenever you move to a new area, water quality might be one of the things you check. Before you bought your home, you got a green light on the inspection, so everything should be perfect. But, now that you're in your new home, you see a strange pinkish-red film forming in the toilet, on the shower walls, around the bathroom fixtures, and even in the dog’s dish. 

You call the water department. They come and test your water, and still, all is well with the tests. What gives? Chances are you have Serratia marcescens. Say what?

Serratia marcescens

At one time considered a harmless little bug, Serratia marcescens bacterium is an opportunistic little pathogen. But it’s not explicitly in your water. It’s in the air in the dust that floats around your home and lands on moist places where it grows. It is in the soil outside your home and may enter into your home by pests, insects, pets, plants, and even your shoes or garden gloves.

Historically, because Serratia marcescens produces a red pigment, ancient actors used it to create fake blood. Since its use throughout history did not connect directly to known illnesses, the saprophyte became a tool used in medical experiments to learn about bacterial infections and even to test potential bioweapons in the 1950-60s.

Unfortunately, a new strain of S. marcescens arrived on the scene after that time that carries pathogenic properties and can cause various illnesses in susceptible populations such as those with compromised immune systems.

To take care of the problem and keep it from building up in your home, clean the wet areas with a chlorine-based compound such as liquid bleach in a ratio of about a quarter cup bleach to a gallon of water. Use it to wipe down bath areas and fixtures. Pour some in the toilet and brush it up around the sides of the bowl to kill as much as possible. Make sure to wash your pet’s dishes frequently. Vacuum and take other steps to mitigate dust as well such as adding HEPA filters to your HVAC system.

The pathogen can grow on window sills that have condensation too, so wipes those down periodically and see about installing higher R-value windows not susceptible to condensation.

If your home is on chlorinated city water, don't worry about it being in your drinking water. The chlorine will kill it. If you have other concerns about your water, or if you are on a well system, contact your community health department to have your water tested.

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If you plan to sell your house in the foreseeable future, it usually pays to clean out the garage. In fact, a home seller who declutters the garage today can show homebuyers the true size and beauty of this space, thereby increasing a house's overall appeal.

Ultimately, it won't take long for a home seller to declutter the garage – here are three tips to help you remove clutter from your garage before you list your residence.

1. Identify Excess Items

Old automotive parts, tools and other excess items can take up lots of space in your garage. However, a homeowner who dedicates the necessary time and resources to identify garage clutter can plan accordingly.

Separate must-keep garage items from excess items. Then, you can determine exactly how much space that you'll need to store the items that you want to keep.

For many homeowners, storage cabinets and shelving units make it easy to keep track of items in a garage. Or, if you need extra space to store garage items, you may want to consider renting a storage unit until you finalize your home sale.

2. Sell, Donate or Dispose of Excess Items

When it comes to excess garage items, there is no need to delay the inevitable. If you sell, donate or dispose of garage clutter, you can quickly eliminate excess items from your garage.

Selling your excess garage items online or hosting a yard sale may prove to be worthwhile. In both instances, you can generate interest in assorted garage items and earn extra cash at the same time.

In addition, you may be able to donate excess garage items to local charities. If you reach out to local charities and learn about their donation policies, you can find out which charities will accept your excess garage items and schedule donation pick-ups.

On the other hand, if you find garage items that are broken or damaged, dispose of these items. That way, you can free up space in your garage immediately.

3. Conduct In-Depth Garage Cleaning

After you remove garage clutter, it is important to spend some time cleaning your garage from top to bottom. This will enable you to transform an ordinary garage into a spectacular one.

If you need extra help with garage cleaning, don't hesitate to contact a professional home cleaning company. This business likely employs friendly, diligent cleaning experts who can help you accelerate the garage cleaning process.

Lastly, if you're searching for the best ways to improve your home before you list it, you may want to hire a real estate agent.

A real estate agent can offer honest, unbiased garage cleaning recommendations and suggestions. Plus, this housing market professional will set up home showings, keep you up to date about offers on your residence and ensure you can enjoy a fast, seamless home selling experience.

Want to sell your residence soon? Use the aforementioned tips, and you can bolster your garage's appearance in no time at all.

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