Whether you’ve been living in your home for a year or for thirty years, you will have to go through the same process to sell your home. Finding a Realtor who knows the market you live in can make the sales process more efficient and can save you time and frustration.

As the mediator between you and the buyer’s agent, your Realtor’s job isn’t easy. If you keep a few simple things in mind, the process will go much more smoothly.

Take Your Emotions Out of the Sale

Your home means a great deal to you. If you’ve made updates, you’ll want the buyer to appreciate your hard work. However all buyers are not going to love your exact tastes. It’s important not to be offended if a buyer doesn’t love everything about your home or consider it to be worth the price you’d like to get for it. It is not uncommon for your upgrades to not be given a dollar for dollar value when your home is appraised. In fact, sometimes they will get little to no mention in the appraisal and may not affect your appraisal value.

Cleaning Things Up

Whether it’s for a showing or after the paperwork is signed, keeping your home clean and put together can make a world of difference as perception is reality. A dirty house can and will put off potential buyers. The better the house looks, the more buyers are willing to pay, which means the more you stand to get from the sale.

Let Your Realtor Do Their Job

It’s your realtor’s job to sell your home. Trust them to market your house to the people they think have the highest likelihood of buying it. Your home should always speak for itself and if not, your real estate agent is there to do the talking. This same idea comes into play when you’re negotiating a deal. They’re there to get you the best deal possible. It’s important for your Realtor to hear your thoughts and concerns, but they do need space to do their job. It doesn’t hurt for them to like you throughout the process as well. We all enjoy working hard for clients that we enjoy and it is certainly more likely that you will not be getting 100% out of your Realtor if you are on their bad side. The same is true of contractors and others we might employ as well.

Following these tips might not be easy, but sometimes they can mean the difference between the sales process being short and sweet or long, drawn out and frustrating. If you do decide your Realtor is not a good fit, simply communicate that to them and find one that you think is a better fit. The sooner in the process you can make such a determination, the better.